Disenchanted
by sunfir3
Summary: Draco Malfoy is not the same kid who left Hogwarts after a failed mission. They'll try to guess the horrors Draco witnessed and committed but the truth does not lay rest to the demons inside the Slytherin. Begins with Deathly Hallows and follows the next 11 months of Horcrux hunting with someone the trio did not expect. H/D
1. The debt that all men pay

Draco ran. He ran as fast as his feet would move. He ran so fiercely he thought he could fly with the slightest jump. Red flashes cut through the air around him like swords being wielded for a fight. They would crash against a tree lighting the dark woods around him in deep maroons. The wet earth crunched beneath his feet while curses well yelled at him.

Her words spoke louder than the men trying to capture him, kill him. He was the traitor, the mud eater. _Come back __home _he could hear her say as if she were running beside him. A green flash came dangerously close to hitting him just as he saw the cliff separating the woods from the valley beneath. This was his opportunity, his chance to go home.

He looked back, eager to kill at least one of his pursuers. "Avada Kadavra!" He yelled as he jumped into the abyss. The last thing he heard before he apparated was a strangled groan leaving the dead body of one of the death eaters, perhaps an old friend. He smiled as tightness engulfed him. He was going home.

The Debt All Men Pay

**11 months earlier**

Severus Snape was ever the picture of calmness as he and Draco walked down the hall from the Malfoy kitchens to a steep staircase that Draco still remained in command of. The Death Eaters had overrun his home with darkness and despair so palpable in the air it was like wading through a swamp. Even though it was the last day of July the manor felt chilly.

The staircase led to the first floor of the manor where his bedroom was; the only place in the entire vicinity that still felt like home. They passed Rookwood on their way to his door but he paid Snape and the young Malfoy no attention. He must have been busy with his thoughts, tomorrow was an important day after all.

Draco pushed the door to his bedroom open and let Snape in first. As soon as he had passed the threshold Snape closed the door behind him quickly and quietly. He put a firm hand on Draco's shoulder and pushed him against the door. He reached into his cloak and pulled out a piece of paper.

_Number 12 Grimmauld Place London_

"Number-" Draco started to read aloud but Snape gripped his shoulder harder and shot him a look that could only convey one thing.

_He could see Snape walking along a quiet road in what was without a doubt the city of London. There were walk ups on his right and a park on his left. The people in their flats could be seen through their windows watching their television boxes with moving pictures and sitting in their recliners oblivious to the dark wizard outside their homes._

_Snape stopped in between two homes. Number 11 and number 13. Where was 12? Through Snape's mind he saw the wizard wave his wand. For a moment nothing happened but then between 11 and 13 a brick appeared, then 3, then 15 then too many to count. A window similar to its neighbors materialized and next to it a large wooden door with a shiny number 12._

_Only a few seconds ago there had been a mysterious screw up in city planning and now his answer was there, magic. Snape strutted up the concrete stairs, opened the door quickly and stepped inside._

_Draco was there next to him, wondering what Snape was waiting for. He looked uncertain, afraid even and then chills shot through Draco's body. He turned in time to see the whispery frightening figure of Albus Dumbledore rise from the dust on the floor. He was coming towards them and he couldn't do anything about it. He heard a cough from beside him but he couldn't take his eyes off of the advancing dead headmaster._

"_I had to kill you!" Snape shouted and then he fell to his knees._

Draco was shot back into reality. He could still hear Snape's voice ringing in his ears. He could feel the dust in his lungs even though delving into someones mind didn't cause such a thing. It was his own guilt making it hard for him to breathe.

"Why?" Draco said quietly. He had learned that he could trust this man. He hadn't been able to stop the Dark Lord from punishing him and everything else so horrible he tried not to think about it. But he had stopped the Dark Lord from killing him. There, behind the dark veil of darkness Snape hid behind goodness. He had tried to help him once and refusing hadn't turned out the way Draco thought. He had saved his life far more times than Draco could count.

"Go tomorrow." Snape said after some deliberation. "You know it's there, it will appear for you now, just wave your wand."

Draco looked stunned. What was going on? Why had the corpse of Albus Dumbledore risen from seemingly out of no where?

"Promise me!" Snape grabbed his other shoulder and pushed him harder against the wooden door. He would have bruises tomorrow he was sure. They'd go nicely with the evidence that the last two months had been nothing but darkness.

"I promise," Draco said frantically trying to get his hands off of him. Snape released him and walked further into his room. "What about my parents?" Draco whispered. He had decided upon recovering from the torture the Dark Lord had bestowed upon him to never go back to the old Draco, as if the Draco from two months still existed. The one who would take orders from someone willing to kill him. It had taken everything in him not to reveal his secret to the Dark Lord. If he glimpsed into his mind he would know and this time he wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

"You'll have to separate for a while." Snape turned around to face him, "Don't argue," he pointed a finger at him when Draco had opened his mouth to do exactly that. "It's better you are all in different places. If he finds you he'll want to kill you while your parents watch or he'll kill you all together."

"Why here?" Draco whispered extending the hand that was still holding the address to where he was supposed to go.

"It'll be safe so long as you're smart about what you do there. You want to redeem yourself?"

Draco nodded. His parents had wanted out long ago, he had only recently discovered that he was standing in a twisted old world he rather fight than be a part of. He had to be honest with himself. He'd never be able to forgive himself if he just stood aside and not stood for something. He'd never stood for anything he actually believed in. Now there was a purpose inside him. Kill or be killed. Kill Voldemort or die the man Voldemort had tried to create.

He had been forced into believing the Death Eater way of life was right. Mudbloods and muggles were scum, Potter and the Weasley bunch had just been born natural enemies. Now that he didn't stand with the dark what other option did he have? He'd had plenty of time to bury his pride and decide. Snape had been the last piece of the puzzle. He had already risked plenty, before and after Draco's torture, to help him. Snape was someone he could trust.

He was going to help his family escape this hell hole. But why? Wasn't he the Dark Lords most faithful servant? At first it had seemed like a trick to get them all blown up but he'd had his chance. After a month of terrible darkness Voldemort had wanted to end his life. He'd seen it. The only times he had been allowed to sleep, have some semblance of normalcy, he'd seen it all. The Dark Lord's plans for him. Voldemort wanted his parents to live forever with the memory of their weak son etched into their memories. Have Draco be a reminder of what happens when you don't follow orders.

But Snape had done something. Spoken to the Dark Lord in ways few knew. He spoke to him like he and Draco often spoke, in silence and the Dark Lord showed mercy, something he had never done. Draco had been allowed back into his room, a much better place to live than the cold wet dungeons of the Malfoy Manor. But he'd hardly had time to rest. His mother and Snape nursed him back to health quickly. His muscles stopped aching, his scars became fainter, his skin returned to a healthy color. But they couldn't fix him inside. He was dead inside. They hadn't gotten to him in time.

He'd just wanted to die altogether. He didn't care what the others thought of him or what would become of him once he was physically healed. Snape had asked him to fake it. To make his sacrifice count. He didn't know what it meant but he realized someone was trusting him not to fail, something he was an expert at doing. Whatever life had been in Draco it was trying to survive now.

He didn't want to question it too much but his curiosity burned him from the inside out. He knew his father was clever, he could get himself and his mother to safety but was Draco just as clever? He knew he wasn't but Snape had given him the first push. Snape knew that revenge had a desperate hold of him now and Voldemort had taught Draco well. Unwillingly but a lesson learned is still learned whether one wants to or not. All Draco had to do was point the wand at the ones who had laughed, who had pointed their own wands at him, who had made him do cruel things. All he had to do was point and kill.

He had fantasied sending his own aunt the killing curse in multiple fashions. Worse yet were the Death Eaters who tortured in other ways. He had heard stories about the fights from before he was born. How they would force mudbloods into servitude and force them to do horrible things. He hated the Granger girl but even his stomach lurched at the thought of her or anyone being bent into sexual fantasies. And now, on the eve of what was to be the comeback of The Dark Lord, talk spread about future plans to seek out mudbloods and have them do evil things. One particular name had been thrown around and even bets were made to see who found her first.

He understood now what it was like to hate. To truly see fear reflected back at you and know that the only way to make it go away was to kill the bad. If that meant becoming a traitor and joining up with the order then that was what he would do. He hated to see the fear in his mother's eyes, constantly worrying if the Dark Lord would take back his mercy and do Draco in for good.

It was as if time had stood still. Snape had seen it all in his eyes. The anger, the passion to turn his life around. He was so young and already he was poised for war which is exactly what was to come. Tomorrow the wizarding community would break in half and he wanted Draco to be safe. He had a soft spot for the child of one of his oldest friends. It had taken Narcissa Malfoy much too long to acknowledge the potential for losing what she loves most.

Severus had learned the hard way and he didn't want to be responsible for more innocent lives lost.

This was his own attempt at redemption. If Potter walked to his death like Dumbledore predicted and didn't return then at least Lily would be reunited with her son. But what of Draco? Would Lily hate him for not helping him? She would he thought and that's when he had decided to make the unbreakable vow and even though he wasn't being upheld to it anymore it didn't matter. Draco would live past this war and if he was smart he would help the Order or help innocents like himself. This was their burden now. They had done bad their entire lives and it came down to now. He hadn't lived an honorable life but he would die an honorable death. There was still time for Draco to turn things around for himself.

"You will go there Draco," Snape said with some finality in his words. There was no room for mistakes. "You will make good with your past demons. If you find someone from the Order you will pledge your fidelity and make them believe it. They'll keep you alive long enough to get your bearings. When they fight you fight. Do you understand? If what I see in your mind is as powerful as what I can feel then you'll have to be bloody sure the Dark Lord knows you have traded sides, more importantly, the people you will support need to know you fight for them now."

Draco nodded but he had to ask, "Why did you kill him? If you were on his side?"

"Albus Dumbledore wasn't oblivious to anything Draco," Snape's voice faltered. Draco had never seen him this way, "to think he didn't know every whisper or thought in his own school is a dishonor to his memory. I owed him a favor and you owe me one now to. Repay me by being the man we both know you can be. Remember, I can see inside your mind."

Snape walked to the door and placed his hand on the nob, "Burn the address tonight. Take only what you can carry in your pockets and keep your promise Draco. We'll see each other soon enough." Then with a swish of his cloak he was gone.

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><p><strong>AN:** I know where I want this to go and I've done a good job of writing a fair amount of it before posting this so what happened with my other stories doesn't happen to this one.

**WARNING. If you don't want to read about death/killing or if you have certain triggers I suggest you stop reading.**

This story is as much a fanfiction of the HP books as it is about Hermione/Draco. I don't copy word for word every chapter of course but I do borrow certain lines and story plots then add my own work to it.

I'll update once a week.

**Enjoy this story and please review. I love feedback.**

**-Maria**


	2. Et in lacum leonum missi sunt

Et in lacum leonum missi sunt

Draco stood by the fireplace like he always did during what felt like mandatory Death Eater gatherings. He had stood here before he had been assigned the task of killing Albus Dumbledore. He had been a different man back then. He let out a silent chuckle. He had been a kid.

He had stood there when news of Mad Eye Moody had reached them. He had leaned against the wall next to the fireplace when someone had come back with Moody's head in one hand and his prosthetic eyeball in the other. The Dark Lord had used the old wizards head as a pedestal for his feet while he watched his faithful followers play with the crystal blue eye.

He had been furious to have been so close to Potter but the head of Moody had cooled him down somewhat. We knew where Potter was now but with the full force of the Ministry still protecting him there was no use wasting time and energy to go after him. When the ministry fell the Dark Lord would have his fun.

Today was that day. The Weasley's were having their son's wedding today and while they were distracted the head of Rufus Scrimgeour would be sawed off and put next to the one of Mad Eye Moody which was being preserved by dark magic. By the end of the day Pius Thicknesse would be minister and Draco would be gone.

He figured he could fit his wand in his pocket and a small enchanted knife meant to poison anyone it cut. He had spoken with his mother briefly after Snape left and he had burned the piece of paper with the address on it.

"_Do you know?" He had asked hoping his time with Snape had not been imagined. He doubted his mother would ever agree to let him go on by himself. She nodded in response. "Where will you go?" He asked already knowing the answer._

_She shook her head sadly. "It's better you don't know. You'll be safer that way. We'll help the Death Eaters keep off your track. He can't win this war Draco." Her expression hardened. "He'll never stop. You would be dead if you weren't your father's son. If you weren't branded." She looked down at Draco's arm. His mark burned brighter than ever._

"_You want redemption too?" His mother nodded._

"_I saw your thoughts Draco. While he tortured you even though it was too late. I knew I would never be able to stop you if you went seeking revenge. If you even lived I knew, I knew what you would become the longer I stayed but I didn't listen to myself. This is better. It is better if I give you my blessing and make you promise to leave if it's too much."_

"_I won't." Draco held on to her hand. He had to do this. He would die trying to set his wrongs to right. He wouldn't run away again like a coward._

"_Please be safe." There was no way to be safe he thought. He figured he would go to this place Snape had told him about and then try to measure up how the wizarding world was holding up. After he would find a member of the order and surrender himself. He hoped they would believe him but if he was being honest with himself, he didn't know what he could do to prove himself. But he would try._ Dammit he would.

There he was. His parents, Pettigrew, Snape and the Dark Lord awaiting news that the ministry had fallen. He turned to look out of his front door which was open. A few feet behind the manor gate stood about 20 Death Eaters awaiting their queue. As soon as word came they were to disapparate to the Weasley's and make as much mayhem as possible. They weren't supposed to kill anyone of interest. Only bring Potter. The Dark Lord didn't want purebloods to die. But if they found the mudblood – the girl...Hermione Granger they were to have some fun, the prize would go to the highest bidder.

He wasn't sure when he would take his leave but he figured it would be at the same time as his parents. Beyond the gates was the only place they could do it. He had his wand and his knife in his pockets. Both of his hands were crossed against his chest as he leaned on the wall. He closed his eyes in concentration. He had avoid making eye contact with the green slits that were the Dark Lords eyes. He could feel his parents presence beside him and Snape's gaze upon him across the room.

A gust of wind blew his hair out of his face and he felt and heard a Death Eater pass him. The smell of blood strong in the air. He was carrying the body of Rufus Scrimgeour by the mane of the old man who resembled a sleeping lion even in death. Outside he heard the calls and yelps of the death eaters celebrating accompanied by 20 pops of apparation.

He knew the name of the Death Eater who brought the body in but couldn't remember at the moment. The only thing he saw was his face. He memorized it and recorded it. He was on a list now. Draco's hand twitched toward his wand but then he caught Snape's eye.

"Congratulations my lord," the Death Eater who brought in the late minister said as he deposited the body at the Dark Lords feet.

"Have you set the trace?" The Dark Lord asked without looking at Scrimgeour.

"Yes my lord. We'll have Potter in no time." With that said Draco looked back out at his gate and found it empty. Surely if someone had caught Potter they would be back now. How many people were at the wedding? Or did Potter have time to escape? Something he never thought he would feel was hope. Hope that Potter was still alive somewhere. It was such a foreign feeling he forgot what was happening around him.

Draco glanced at his parents then at the Dark Lord. Snape was speaking with him. It was now or never.

_Be safe_ his mother mouthed grabbing his father's hand and leading them out towards the back. They went unnoticed. The Death Eater who brought the body in was busy working on the head of the deceased minister and Snape was thanking the Dark Lord for making him Headmaster of Hogwarts.

With determination Draco walked toward his gate. He looked back once to see the Death Eater whose name he now remembered, Gibbon, realize he was gone. He was starring at Draco dumbly. Then his wand hand pointed at him and he was shouting.

"He's escaping my lord! He's escaping!"

Draco took off sprinting. He had the gate open when a green flash hit his mothers rosebushes. What a crap aim Gibbon had. That's why he had been charged with bringing back the body, not killing it. Draco turned in his spot and vanish before any other curses could be sent his way. He vaguely recalled hearing a similar pop from behind the house. His parents had made it out too. There was no mistaking the sound apparation made.

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><p>*Title: In The Lions Den<p>

Please leave a review and let me know what you think ㇬3


	3. Damnant Quodnon Intelligunt

Damnant Quodnon Intelligunt

As the tightness vanished and his feet found solid ground Draco realized he was no longer in the country side. Of course, this place was in London but he feared turning around and seeing a Death Eater or worse, the Dark Lord ready to kill him for betrayal. He figured he should find the place Snape told him about and quickly.

He knew the plans that were to take place after the fall of the ministry and knew London would be targeted by dementors at any moment. It was already dark but the chill in the air was different than that of the one he had felt as he ran out of the manor.

He stepped out into the street and faced the building before him. There was a walk up with the number eleven and another with the number 13. The inside of the homes were dark and silent. In fact the entire street was deserted. He wondered briefly if this had been a trap but then Number 12 Grimmauld Place appeared like it had been there the entire time.

He stepped up quickly before anyone could notice the pale and afraid looking man outside. He entered and was momentarily shocked to find it unlocked. Immediately he thought he had the wrong place. He backed up into the door when his tongue rolled over in his mouth and the dust on the floor rose into the air. It created the rotting image of his late Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and then what Snape had said clicked.

"I couldn't kill you!" He said as best as he could. The dust settled back on the floor and Draco lost his balance with it, falling to his knees. His overall black attire laid under a thick layer of dust, dust that had taken the form of his ex headmaster. It was all more terrifying in person than in Snape's mind. He was panting and clutching his wand like his life depended on it. He knew that was not the real Dumbledore but his mind kept racing back to the night in the North Tower. He kept seeing the old man's body flying through the air. Life and air being knocked out of him in the process. The sky illuminated in green like a sick advertisement.

Draco shook his head violently and used the walls around him to help himself back up to his feet. He needed to get himself together and explore this place. He wondered why a fake Dumbledore would rise from the dust and try to asphyxiate him with his own tongue. He had a feeling he knew but he needed to move and be sure of it.

It only took him a few shaky steps to confirm he was in a wizards house and on the third floor, the room furthest away from the staircase he realized he was in fact in the Black house. The lineage tree spread across an entire wall. Here and there were burn marks over the names of Sirius Black and his aunt Nymphadora Tonks along with others. He was on this tree as well, an unwelcome surprise. He never thought of himself as part of this family.

His gut told him this place had been used by the Order. Perhaps the fake Dumbledore was an alarm that triggered a message for them. He felt very claustrophobic suddenly. What if someone from the Order found him instead and killed him on the spot before he had a chance to switch alliances? He could see it happening so clearly it made his chest constrain. But it was impossible. The majority of the Order of the Phoenix had congregated at the Weasley's boy wedding. And he had been here long enough. If anyone was going to show up, they would have done so already.

He made his way to the second floor and found most of the rooms to be empty and tousled like someone had broken in. He closed the doors back when he was finished going through them. He was looking inside one of the rooms when he heard a crash, some whispers and a scream.

"We didn't kill you!" Draco took out his wand and held it at the ready. He would know that voice anywhere. Half of him was relieved but the other half, the half that had spent the majority of his life hating Potter made his skin crawl. He still had the gashes from Potter's spell on his skin and occasionally had nightmares of bleeding out.

He descended the stairs slowly but then his wand shook violently and there was another scream.

"Harry someone is here!" Hermione Granger yelled.

Draco continued to descend and prepared to be blasted off of his feet but no curse came. He could see their expressions of shock written clearly on their faces. They were dressed in normal muggle clothing, they looked like they had come from casually lounging in the common room instead of a wedding. The only indication that they had been slightly roughed up was Hermione Granger's tousled hair. It was crazier than normal.

"I don't want to fight," Draco broke the silence but immediately the room was filled with red and white and he was on the floor clutching his wand with all of his might. Somewhere there was a rude woman yelling profanities at them and still he sought cover from stuns that the trio were sending his way.

"Protego!" He managed to yell and all fire ceased but the woman continued to yell about mudbloods tainting the pure and noble house of Black.

He heard the heavy panting of the Granger girl who was closest to him, "Harry we have to go it's not safe with him here. They'll know where we are."

"No!" Draco yelled. He had to do something, show them that he wasn't a danger. He held up his wand in the air and then threw it at them. The wall the Protego charm had created vanished and his wand landed perfectly at Harry Potter's feet.

Potter looked at his friends in confusion and then back at him. He never lowered his wand though. Draco knew a million things were racing through his mind.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" Harry spat. He was moving forward, he kicked Draco's wand somewhere near Ron Weasley but Draco didn't move an inch.

"I've come to offer you my alliance," Draco said and he could hear how it sounded like. Not nearly as truthful as he wanted it too. But this was Harry Potter and he had never talked to him like this before except for the first time they had met. He knew nothing else. He hated him with all of his being but it was this or leaving only to die a slow painful death for being a traitor. He would die trying to be a decent human being instead of a coward.

"Bullshit!" Harry yelled over the woman still making noise. They all ignored her. "Who told you about this place?" He asked.

"Snape. Snape told me yesterday." He didn't see how saying his name would help his case.

"Harry we have to go, if Snape told him he told others. They'll be here any minute-"

"No," Draco pleaded again. "He didn't tell anyone else, only me. I don't know why but he knew I wanted to make things right. Please believe me." Draco had never begged once in his life. It tasted like bile in his mouth.

Harry's wand faltered in height, "Why?"

"Because I can't pretend I'm like them, like the Death Eaters I left behind today. You were there weren't you Potter? That night?" His voice had gone hoarse. He hadn't talked to anyone about that night aside from admitting he had failed.

There was silence and Draco knew he had been right. When he and the others left the North Tower Potter had followed them and he had shouted things at Snape. He had known because he had seen.

"I didn't want to do it Potter, I swear I didn't. But he threatened my parents, the only people in the world who care about me. Me," Draco laughed, "a silly boy who cares about stupid things like blood lines and money. I had too."

"I don't believe him," the Weasley boy said standing next to Potter holding Draco's wand. "Pettigrew said the same thing Harry. Let's just take his wand and leave him here. We don't need this." Potter didn't move an inch though.

Harry had been there, listened to the fear in Draco's voice that night. He had almost agreed to accept Dumbledore's help but the rest of his friends had barged in. Then he had just stood by and watched as Albus Dumbledore was killed. The wizard who killed him, taken away the man with all the answers had told him where to find Harry. Why? So Malfoy could finish him off? But then why throw his wand at him? It made no sense.

"Search him," Harry said to Ron. "See if he has any other weapons. If you move Malfoy I'll stun you so hard you won't remember your name."

Ron looked at Harry incredulously but he did as he was told.

"There's a knife in my left pocket," Draco said, he had to be as honest as he could be, "if you cut yourself on the blade you'll die from poisoning."

Ron looked back at Harry and Hermione, the latter who only had eyes for Draco Malfoy. She looked just as unsure as Ron. She was pretending to be calm but the tight grip and the rapid fall and rise of her chest gave her away.

Ron searched Draco from top to bottom and sure enough he found the blade but he didn't bother checking to see if in fact it was anything more than it seemed. He took it and walked back to his two friends.

"I don't know what you're doing Harry, there's no way I'll ever trust him. Not unless he brings us you know who's head on a platter himself." Ron Weasley said bringing the knife over to him.

"He's not wrong about everything he said, Voldemort did make him swear-"

"No!" Draco said looking around him frantically but the room continued to be only filled with the loud yells of the woman who he only now realized was actually a portrait by the wall. A plump witch was holding family heirlooms while sitting on a horrendous green armchair. She was looking at them all yelling things like mudbloods and blood traitors. "You can't say his name!"

"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot your kind likes to call him the Dark Lord." Harry said with such sharpness in his voice Draco wondered if it could literally cut him.

"It's not that," Draco wondered why they hadn't shown up. Gibbon had told the Dark Lord the trace was set, was there some sort of magic stopping them from coming in? "There's a trace on the name, if you say it the Death Eaters will come."

The Granger girl ran to a window by the yelling portrait and moved the blinds aside. He again wondered why no one had knocked to see what all the yelling was about and why Granger had so brazenly swatted the cloth away from the window. Wasn't she afraid someone from the outside would look in?

"He's right Harry," Hermione walked away from the window, her wand clutched more tightly against her. "One of them was definitely at the wedding, I remember pushing him aside to get to you."

Ron hurried past her and looked out the window to verify. When he turned back he was looking a bit green. "There's at least 6 of them outside."

They all stared at Draco.

"I know you can't take my word and I don't know how to prove to you that I'm no longer fighting for them but I'll do anything you ask, anything you want to prove it to you." Draco pleaded. He felt like vomiting. The feeling he had back in the Malfoy manor when he had hoped Potter was alive came back to him full force.

"Short of making an unbreakable vow, there is nothing you can do Malfoy," Potter said stepping closer and aiming at Draco's heart.

"I'll do it," Draco said remembering the pain of the Cruciatus curse. He wondered how death would compare to pledging his alliance to Potter.

"What?" The trio said in unison.

Draco swallowed his pride, whatever there was left, whatever hadn't been killed along with the torture and laughter of the people he used to think was family. "I'll do whatever. If you want me to swear to jump in front of you if someone sends an unforgivable your way I'll do it. If you want me to tell you all the dirty little secrets of every death eater I know then I will.-"

"If I want you to walk out that door and turn yourself into you know who?" Potter asked.

Draco took a moment before he answered. He started at the three in front of him. Had he really been so evil?

"I will," Draco's voice cracked, "but I think I'm much more valuable to you alive."

"I don't believe him," the Weasley boy said. "You people are master manipulators. I'd love to see you make a vow Malfoy and I'll personally dance around your body when you break it."

"Ron!" Hermione Granger had sat down and was looking pale. "I remember Malfoy being cruel and weak, he was never a good actor though." She didn't look at him, only at her two friends. "Harry, it's up to you."

"Do you trust him?" He asked her.

Granger looked at Draco straight on for the first time. He knew all those times he had taunted her, threatened her and her kind were rushing back to her. He wished he hadn't been such a bloody idiot before. He wished he could be different but in this moment, right now, it was all up to her.

"No," she said and Draco actually felt dizzy, "but I can make it so he can't loophole his way out of a vow. He could be useful Harry. I think we need to get past school yard hate, we could die without the information he has."

Potter stared at his friend for a moment. Draco could tell he was weighing his options. "Can you do it Hermione?"

"I read about it before summer, I'm pretty sure I can do it. But who would do it with him?"

"I will," Potter said. There was an outcry from the other two and their arguments joined in with the loud portrait.

"You're too valuable Harry!"

"How dare a mudblood taint the great house of Black?"

"You're off your rocker if you think you're doing it!"

"BE GONE THUGS AND MUDBLOOD TRASH!"

"Oh SHUT UP!" Hermione stood up and walked to the yelling portrait. She pointed her wand at it and a white flash appeared. She hadn't uttered a single word. A curtain enveloped the portrait and silence followed.

"I can do it," Hermione said turning once she was sure the curtains wouldn't fly open. "One of you will have to join us though. It's not hard really, a first year could do it."

"No, no way," Weasley said, "I won't do it and Harry won't either will you Harry?"

Potter looked at Weasley and then at Draco who was still perched on the stairs with his hands in the air.

"I'll do it," Harry said and Ron stormed past them into another room screaming profanities. He didn't reappear until Granger had finished explaining to Potter how to perform the spell. He stood in the back, his hand clutching his wand and his face tomato red.

"Let's see then Malfoy," Potter walked over to the edge of the stairs and allowed Draco to descend them. Granger stood next to Potter and in front of Draco.

They clasped hands tightly, both were shaking. Potter stepped onto one of the stairs and looked between the two. They had never touched like this before. Hermione remembered punching Draco in her third year. That had felt satisfying, this felt wrong.

"Are you ready?" Potter asked but Draco was sure he wasn't asking him.

"I'm ready," Granger said. Potter pointed his wand at their clasped hands. Weasley took a few uneasy steps forward.

"Do you, Draco Malfoy swear to never return to work for Lord Voldemort or any death eater, including Lucius Malfoy? And to completely devote your entire self to helping our cause?"

"I do," Draco said feeling a pain in his stomach and a burning in his hand. A gold strand appeared from the end of Potter's wand and enveloped his and Hermione's hand.

"Do you swear to never reveal anything you may hear us say or plan vocally, written or otherwise unless specifically given permission?"

Draco felt confusion, even between Potter and Weasley but he had to do this, no matter how much it confused him. "I do." Another strand appeared and their hands became hotter.

"Do you swear to answer any questions to the best of your ability about Lord Voldemort, his supporters, your parents and yourself?"

"I do."

"Will you fight against our enemies, lie for us, leave if we ask, never try to hurt anyone on our side and uphold all of these rules until we see fit you have honored them?"

"I do," Draco said forcefully. His hand was shaking uncontrollably now. There were so many strands now wrapped around them that he could hardly make out their fingers.

Hermione's eyes watered and her whole frame was still. There was a fierceness in the way she held Draco's hand. Draco couldn't look away. He wanted to see inside her but refrained.

She let go of him and turned her back. She was holding herself as she caught her breath. She shooed away Weasley when he tried to hug her.

She turned around and got so close to Draco's face he could smell her perfume. Her eyes were dilated and he realized he had never noticed the freckles on her nose. "If you find a loophole, if you betray us somehow, I will find you and I will kill you myself. Or worse, I'll send you back to Voldemort with a bow tied around your neck and a card signed by all of us."

She walked away and climbed the stairs. A minute later they all heard a door slam.

"Come on," Harry said to Ron. They both looked at Draco trying to size him up as if this was their first day at Hogwarts. "There's nothing he can do to us now."

"I don't want to hurt you," Draco whispered feeling like his lungs had stopped helping him breathe. He turned around not wanting to see if they believed him or not. He walked into the room Weasley had left before and realized it was a small sitting room. He saw a couch and laid down on it. He felt he had just given up his life and had gotten nothing in return. This was death.

His eyes became heavy with exhaustion. Adrenaline crash. It didn't bother him that the three people who hated him more than the Dark Lord were upstairs talking about him. Or that there was at least half a dozen Death Eaters outside waiting for someone to open a door or crack a window so that they could come in and kill them.

He knew what this place was now. It had been the Order's headquarters and the reason he had read the address instead of hearing about it was because it was safe guarded. He was part of the spell now. Even if he wanted to tell anyone he wouldn't be able to. He'd die and he was positive it also went against the Unbreakable Vow somehow.

He wasn't sure what felt worse, having made it or having made it with Hermione Granger of all people. He doubted there was anything he could do to make them trust him. Sure they might not fear him anymore but there was always the hate. The hate he felt for them too. Although now he wasn't quite sure why he hated them. Potter was helpless without the other two and yet he was always smug. The Weasley kid was as smart as Crabb and Goyle put together which wasn't saying much and relied all too heavily on Granger. Hermione Granger, he hated everything about her.

Her hair, the way she walked, the way her hand always shot up in class and answered regardless of being called on. He hated the fact that he had always been second in their year. No one even noticed their scores were always a number off. He hated that every boy in their year found her irresistible and she didn't even know it. He hated the way she had everything in the world and was not worthy. And yet he couldn't actually fault her logically.

He had worked hard hadn't he? He had stayed up late every night doing homework, practicing for Quidditch, wooing his classmates with his charm. Sure he had done it all under the assumption that what he stood for was right but that had turned out horribly bad. He had still come in second place and lost all of the people he thought were friends. He was alone and afraid and tired of feeling so much hate.

He was tired. He fell asleep on that couch. He dreamed of the Cruciatus curse and of the vow and of thin slits for eyes.

**Title means: They condemn what they do not understand.**

**Please leave a review! It really helps!**


	4. Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus

Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus

Draco awoke with a start. He felt his cold wet shirt stick to him as his chest heaved up and down. He'd had another nightmare and when he came to he realized he wasn't in his room. He was on a dark green couch and an old dusty ceiling filled his field of vision. His heavy breaths were the only sound in the room. His heart skipped a beat when he felt eyes on him.

He reached for his wand but didn't find it, then his knife but it was gone too. It was then that he remembered what he'd done. He turned to his side and saw him. He was standing there pointing Draco's own wand at his heart. Draco sat up slowly, swinging his long legs back down to the floor and watched silently, waiting for Potter to make the first move.

"I should kill you," the boy in the round glasses and messy hair said, "I could do it and I wouldn't lose sleep at night for as long as I lived." In the darkness it was hard for Draco to make him out clearly but he could see enough. The lightning bolt scar Potter was famous for, the wild out of control hair Draco had learned to hate, it was a sign of how different they were to each other, and the lanky outline of Potter. He wasn't as weak as Draco had thought. He'd learned that he shouldn't underestimate his enemies.

Draco was almost panting, his heart still racing from the nightmare he'd had. He ran a hand over his hair and smoothed it back. "I believe you Potter, I wouldn't blame you."

"I'm not going to though," Potter said almost like Draco had laughed at him. He stepped away from the door he'd been leaning against and walked two steps towards him. "But if you cross us, if you do something to hurt them or anyone else I care about I'll do a lot worse than kill you." Potter had pointed Draco's wand to the ceiling.

He didn't mean to say it but he had made him remember the torture, the pain, and the humiliation. "There's nothing you can do to me that hasn't already been done." Draco looked away and stood. He walked to the side of the couch trying to regain his composure. "Nonetheless, I would expect nothing short of death for betrayal." Draco sighed as he neared a window. From the other side of the fabric shielding them from the outside world he could see silhouettes of men. Maybe two or three. They were still there, waiting. Draco turned slightly needing for Potter to know. "I'm not out to get you Potter, or them..."

There was silence for a while when no one spoke but the heaviness of the situation was weighing on them both. "What happened to you?" Potter said taking another step forward. "What was your punishment for not-" he stopped, probably unable to continue or unable to care.

Draco didn't want to look at him. He was afraid of what he'd see.

"You don't have to tell me," he heard Potter say. Draco felt a million miles away. "I can imagine." But his words were too light, too dismissive. Draco had failed to kill Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard that had ever lived. Of course he had failed, who wouldn't have? Severus Snape had an inside advantage. But he? The Dark Lord had known all along he'd fail.

"No, you probably can't.," Draco snapped. "He doesn't just torture you with curses. He get's into your dreams, your thoughts, everything you are." Draco spun around taking a step forward, "I would take hours of the Cruciatus curse over watching the many creative ways he could kill my mother or the heavy threats, the taunts from people you thought loved you. Have you ever been stalked by Nagini Potter? How about heard the Death Eaters talk in detail about what they would do to Granger if they had her?" Potter's jaw clenched and his hand tightened around the wand but he didn't point it at Draco. "I had to learn to go around with a smile on my face because if they thought I didn't want to hear all of their disgusting perverted plans, they'd go to him and he'd make me see it for myself. You can't imagine for one second what they did to me. The things he made me do-" Draco choked back his words.

He hadn't meant to say it all but it had just come out. As long as he was talking he figured he'd let it all out. "I sacrificed everything to make sure those things they planned don't come true. You don't have to believe me or trust me but at least give me the chance to prove I'm not the same idiot who made your life hell."

"I've already given you the chance," he said. Potter looked down at Draco's hands which were shaking. His eyes moved to the one that had held Granger's. It was almost glowing with the faint scars of the vows he had made. "In my haste to secure your secrets I put her in danger."

"She didn't make any vows," Draco said but Potter shot him a glare that stopped Draco short.

Potter took a few steps forward. "If you break your vows and you die, she won't blame anyone but herself." He half turned and stopped for a second. "I'm not the person you have to convince to trust you." He stepped over to the couch and placed Draco's wand and knife on it. He didn't say anything else before walking away.

Draco briefly turned to look at the dusty ceiling, momentarily seeing Granger sitting on a couch with Weasley's arms around her, consoling her and telling her what a git Draco was. He hadn't thought about what this meant for her. She had threatened his life first after all. He figured she didn't care if he broke his vows so long as they were safe.

He grabbed his wand and knife and felt a lot more confident. He could do this. He'd been preparing for months for this moment or something like it. He never imagined he'd confront them personally, the Golden Trio. He thought he'd break away somehow from the dark side and run into someone like Arthur Weasley. He could bet his life that he was in the Order. His father had only ever spoken cruel things about the man but Draco still remembered the brawl oh so many years ago in the book store. Arthur Weasley had stood up for Muggle rights and Potter. He'd defended them so fiercely that his father's personal vendetta had grown exponentially.

He thought he'd try to convince him and if he had Arthur Weasley convinced of his loyalties then the rest of the order would follow. In reality he had jumped to the front of the line. If he managed to get on Potter's good graces then he was in all the way, right?

_I'm not the person you have to convince to trust you._ Granger. What was the way to Granger's good graces? The Weasley boy? Everyone knew she harbored a deep seeded crush for the red headed freak. It's all anyone talked about for the past few years. He'd seen her moping around during prefect duties himself. It was almost comical how much he avoided her during those times and they'd always end up doing prefect duties together. He'd make sure to have three floors separating them but even back then he knew she was special.

Special in a way that made his stomach turn. He had known they'd all be doing something important, but this, he looked at the hand that had held hers, this took it to a whole other level.

He sat on the couch and rested his head on the untouched and unvowed hand. The weight of the realization was sinking in. He was in the Order's headquarters. One set of stairs, not three, separated him from three people who would rather see him burned at the stake than try to find a way to extinguish the flames.

Potter had said he'd already given him a chance. When Weasley had begged for them to leave, abandon Draco, Potter had taken his offer of the vows. What exactly had Potter seen the night of Albus Dumbledore's murder? He wondered if he'd seen Draco's hesitation, that moment when Draco had wanted more than anything to trade his life and safety for that of his parents. The promise of a different life had seemed too good. Had the hesitation been enough? Or had Potter seen something else?

Draco suddenly felt sick. He rushed up the stairs and turned into the room he had seen when he'd been exploring. He found the toilet and let out months of stress and panic leave his body in that days breakfast. He realized he hadn't eaten anything since leaving the manor. He clutched the porcelain and tried not to think if the trio could hear him. He continued until he could only dry heave. When there was nothing else for him to do he rested his head against the cold surface of the tub next to the toilet. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe normally.

He remembered how often he'd been in this exact same position. He had done this a few times in the prefects bathroom but the fear of being caught by another prefect had made him seek out a more solitary place. A place he could be weak and not be judged by an overprotective parent, an insane aunt, or a nosy teacher.

He remembered being caught by the very same boy that had just threatened to do more than kill him. He had almost succeeded that day as well. If it hadn't been for Severus he'd be nothing more than a rotting body buried six feet deep.

Potter had seen the stupid little boy. He wasn't so sure he wasn't him anymore.

There was a knock on the door and he stood up abruptly. He flushed the toilet and dried his sudden wet hands on his pants. Another knock came and he realized he was just standing there, unable to move.

"Malfoy, open the door." It was Granger and she sounded small, almost nervous. He pushed past his own demons and reached for the handle. When he swung the door open he saw her standing there, circles under her blotchy eyes and a red nose. She'd been crying.

He wondered if he looked similar but he avoided turning to see himself in the mirror.

"I couldn't avoid noticing that you um...were sick." His stomach turned again and he leaned against the sink. "I only packed for Harry, Ron and I so I couldn't very well give you one of our toothbrushes but I found a pencil and I managed to transfigure it." Her hands had been crossed but when she unfolded them she revealed a nearly perfect toothbrush. It still had an eraser at the end. He hadn't actually held a pencil ever but he had seen one in Diagon Alley in a shop that specialized in muggle items. His mother had scolded him for being curious and taunted muggles and their silly pen contraptions. He wondered why there was one in the Black's house, a house he knew to be very anti muggle.

"Normally when someone does something nice for someone else, the person usually thanks them." Ah there was the Granger he knew. She shoved the toothbrush at him again and reached behind her. There was a package of toothpaste in her hand that she also shoved his way.

The hand holding the toothpaste was the hand that had made him make those vows. It was glowing much like his. He stared at it briefly before taking the items from her. He wondered if she could still feel the hot golden strands around her hand like he did.

"Thanks," he said trying not to sound awkward but he was failing miserably. "I apologize if I woke you."

"Wow, a thank you and an apology all in one sentence. I didn't think I'd live to see the day, how does it taste like Malfoy?" He wasn't sure but he could almost see her spirits lifting? Did she like tormenting him?

"Like vinegar," he responded seeing the quickest of grins and then what he thought had been a smile was replaced with a scowl.

"When you're done," she placed her hands on her hips and squared her shoulders, "I want a word. Down the hall, last room on the left. We need to talk." With that she turned and left. He leaned over the threshold and watched her enter the room she had specified. He wasn't sure if he wanted to meet her. He wondered what she'd do if he never showed up?

He signed almost involuntary and begin to brush his teeth. He wouldn't avoid her. Not if she was the one he needed to convince of his loyalties. And especially not if she was the one seeking him out. He finished quickly and left the toothbrush and toothpaste in the bathroom. His wand, his knife and that toothbrush were the only things to his name. He could wash and even transfigure the clothes on his back but other than those three things, Draco Malfoy had nothing. He was nothing. Not a student of Hogwarts, not a death eater. He no longer saw blood when he was in the presence of others.

His blood, their blood. It was all the same. He'd seen enough of his own to know the only difference was their thoughts. He'd done enough evil with his hands to know true monsters laid seed in the brain and not the veins.

He stood outside the door of the room Granger was in for more time than he cared to admit. She must have known he was outside but she didn't badger him to come in. She let him go in on his own terms. All of a sudden this wasn't a meeting she had demanded, it was a mutual gathering.

He walked in and saw her sitting on a plush chair pushed into the corner. There was nothing else in the room except this one chair and a few feathers strewn across the floor. They looked like bird feathers but much too massive to be any regular bird. An image of a gigantic chicken kicking him suddenly clouded his memories.

"Buckbeak," he heard Granger say as he remembered the stupid hippogriff from third year. "I believe you've met."

"Yeah, it broke my arm in two places." Draco's arm gave a twitch almost like it remembered the pain.

"Madam Pomfrey had you fixed up in two hours yet you pretended to be hurt just so Hagrid would lose one of the animals he loved the most-"

"That's not why," Draco tried not to sound defensive but the two steps he had taken her way and the way his voice had lifted someone would think they were arguing about something other than a flying chicken.

"Then why?" Granger stood and crossed her arms. She had a fierce look upon her. That feeling that he often had when he looked at her, like she could chop him up into tiny pieces just for breathing the same air she inhaled enveloped him.

"Because of the bloody status quo," Granger seemed confused, she even dropped her arms to her sides. "I was an idiot back then. I thought I needed to level out the scales or something. Potter had ridden that bloody turkey like he'd ridden a broom the first time. Everything just seemed to come so easy to him and nobody cared that what he does so naturally, others – me, takes every bit of concentration to complete. I wanted to make sure he knew there were consequences to his behavior. I wanted him to suffer so yeah I startled the hippogriff but I never meant for it to be sent off to be killed. At most I wanted Potter to watch his friend be sad that he had to get rid of it and know that it was because of him."

"It would have been because of you," she said a bit deflated. He hadn't expected that. He had seen her angry and explosive in his minds eye when telling her. "Hagrid wouldn't have blamed Harry, he never did. You couldn't just leave it alone. It even gave you pleasure to know that Buckbeak was going to be killed, or don't you remember? You make a good punching bag Malfoy."

"There was nothing I could do at that point. I was 13 years old and Potter was finally getting his. I didn't even understand what it would mean."

"And I'm supposed to believe you do now?" Granger stepped a bit closer. He could see her freckles and the light shining from behind her through the window made her glow a bit. She looked dangerous. "You know the difference between life and death now?"

"I do," he nearly growled. An image of Gibbon appeared in his mind. Then one of his aunt ratting him out to the Dark Lord and how he had grimaced at the conversations the others were having. Her laughing while the Dark Lord tortured him. Of Peter Pettigrew stroking his new arm and looking away while Draco convulsed and begged for mercy. Of his hands...his own hands. He'd kill them all when he was given the chance.

Whatever Granger had been doing while he was lost in his thoughts he'd never know but when he came back down she was looking at him strangely. They'd never been so close or so tense except for the time she had hit him so hard he had almost lost his balance.

"Where are your parents?" A sudden panic wafted through him and he stumbled a bit backwards. It must have been the magic from the vows. He had sworn to answer all the questions they asked about his family and the Death Eaters but he feared what they would do with information about his parents.

"I honestly don't know," Draco said looking down almost whispering, "my mother didn't tell me. We took off at the same time, separate directions. I didn't even speak to my father. I-I haven't spoken to him since..."

"Since?" She asked carefully.

"Since he and the others were broken out of Azkaban. He was there when-," Draco turned around prepared to run for the bathroom again but he breathed in deeply and tried to finish. "When I was punished. I don't know where they would go."

"Do you own any other properties," she could have asked more about the punishment but she didn't. "Maybe there's a place they mentioned before and you just don't remember?"

"Maybe," Draco said turning back around, "the Dark Lord would know of our other properties, they wouldn't go to any of them and my parents rarely spoke about places we didn't own. They could be on the moon for all I know."

She nodded. He wondered if she had asked out of curiosity or because his parents whereabouts truly mattered to her. Perhaps she was just testing him to see if he'd break his vows this early.

"I asked you here because I heard your conversation with Harry." She crossed her arms again and tried not to meet his eye, "Everything, including the bit about me."

"I didn't know what doing this would mean for you and if it's too much we can try to find a way-"

"What? A way out?" She laughed and stepped away going over to the window. Again he felt a bit of panic at her brazen behavior. Could anyone outside see her? "I don't want a way out Malfoy. I let it go with Harry because he's just looking out for me but I want you to understand you don't intimidate me." She turned and glared at him. "If you break your vows it'll be because you're a coward, not because I bound you to me. Not making you turn yourself into Voldemort wasn't proof of our mercy, it only means you ARE a lot more valuable to us alive than dead."

"How does that make you better than him? If he knew I was here he'd use me for information on you and then kill me. Is that what you're saying? As soon as I'm not valuable anymore you'll find a way to get rid of me?" She seemed shocked at his words but then she was right in front of him pushing him with her small hands.

"How dare you! We are nothing like him-" he grabbed her wrists and held her in place. A fire inside him broke out and he knew he could do it. He could turn her around and break her neck, he could push her so hard she'd die on impact with the ground. He could do it.

"I risked it all and you're telling me it was so I could go from one hell to another?!" Draco could see the tears rimming her eyes as he shook her. "I'll tell you everything you want to know, every last detail but I'm sick of the threats. I'm quite familiar with them now. The reminder of what a vile foul creature I am. I'm trying to help you goddamit!"

She broke down but he couldn't let go. His hand was burning bright and so was hers. A sharp pain was traveling through his body and he tried not to panic.

"Am I hurting you?" He groaned. They were both breathing rapidly. He could feel shocks of electricity and static fill the inside of his head.

She stopped crying for a second to look at him. His eyes closed and he felt what he could only describe as a tiny prick near his heart.

"N-no," she whispered, "Malfoy are you okay?"

He breathed heavily and managed to let go of her. The prick was gone but the reminder of how close he had been to hurting her and breaking his vow loomed over him. He walked around her and sat down on the chair she had just used.

"What just happened?" She whispered turning in her spot instead of going over to him.

"Never hurt anyone on our side," he rubbed his hands together and stared up at her as the realization dawned on her. "You must have felt something because I definitely did. It was like someone was pointing a spear at my heart waiting for you to say yes."

They were quiet for minutes or hours he wasn't sure. He could hear his heart beating fiercely and he was hyper aware of her movements. He wasn't sure what time in the night it was or how long he had slept before Potter had woken him with his presence but he thought that maybe it was around three am. He was exhausted and aware all at the same time.

"Things can't get out of hand like this anymore," she said what he felt was years later but in reality maybe only fifteen minutes. "I've made this commitment, we need you no matter what the circumstances of our past. We're on a mission and your past with the Death Eaters, with Voldemort, even the ancient magic that surrounds your family; will be beneficial to our search. Harry knows it. He must know other things too because when I asked he refused to tell me and I'm not sure it's for my sake."

"You think he genuinely wants to help me?" Draco said knowing how sarcastic it sounded. A real question masked in years of prejudice.

"I don't know and I don't care," she said not sounding at all untruthful. "I meant what I said, you don't intimidate me but I'm also not going to sell you out for our gain. For that you'd have to earn our wrath. We don't just give it out for the status quo."

Draco looked away ashamed. He knew he'd regret that story.

"Ron will be a different story. To him you're still the traitor, the spoiled brat, the Death Eater. The only difference between Harry, Ron, and I is that Harry and I don't care about those things right now. Not when there are things to gain from you. We won't dump you if you don't give us a reason to."

Draco ran a hand over his dark mark and wished with all of his might that it would be gone. It had burned, sometimes uncontrollably so, since leaving but his year with it had taught him how to ignore it.

"Like I said, this can't happen again. With him or Harry or me. My own words have backfired on me."

"You only hit when you're provoked?" He asked. He stood and watched her take a step forward.

"Are you mocking me?" She smiled gently, something he thought she'd never do in his presence. Maybe she did enjoy tormenting him.

"Maybe I'd like to see if you still have a good hook, after all, it's not against the rules for you to hurt me."

"Like I said," she whispered slowly and dangerously, "you have to earn our wrath."

"Mudblood," he taunted her. The word came so easily but the satisfaction it once gave him was gone.

"And proud of it," she hissed. He walked around her sizing her up. She followed him, only turning her head. Always keeping an eye on him.

"Know it all," he smiled when she laughed.

"You can do better than that Malfoy."

He stopped in front of her and stared her down slowly, starting her from her shoes, up her pants, across the plane of her chest which was heaving rapidly. He tilted his head when he came upon her neck and jaw. The muscles tight and stressed. Her lips in a straight line and her eyes narrowed.

"Virgin," he had enough time to tense when her fist hit his arm so hard it was close to the feeling of being hit by bludger. "Hit a nerve I see." He rubbed his arm. It wasn't worse than being hit in the face and the feeling of victory made it sting less.

"I'd love to see you bring that attitude with Ron. He hits a lot harder." She was fuming but the image was all too real. He would have to watch himself. He wouldn't be able to defend himself against the Weasley boy. He'd croak right as the first punch was delivered.

"Would he do it on purpose?" The sudden realization shocked him. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"What?" Granger was confused, he could see it. But he remembered all those times he had bullied the red headed boy and his entire family. He even recalled calling his mother a fat cow once.

"Would Weasley provoke me? On purpose knowing I can't do anything about it?" He ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes. He'd been the reason Weasley had spit out slugs. He'd set off a sparkler in one of his potions that had gone off during one of Snape's classes and he had received 1 week detention. He had abused and bullied the girl he was clearly in love with.

"No," Granger said, "he wouldn't do that..."

Draco glanced at her but she didn't look so sure.

"I'll talk to him."

They were quiet again but this time Draco couldn't help the pull towards sleep. He wanted to find a corner in the house and curl up until noon even though he knew that wouldn't be possible.

"Are we done here?" Draco asked turning to head for the door. "Any threats you missed? Any questions you have?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. He took that as a sign that they were done.

When he was at the door she stopped him. He didn't even feel her coming up behind him.

"Tomorrow we'll all talk. You'll have to answer a lot of questions." She stood there with a worried expression. They were probably thinking the same thing. It could all go very bad if someone lost their temper.

"I'm surprised it didn't happen today," he said. They'd all sort of went their separate ways after his vows. The adrenaline crash had hit him hard.

"We've all had long days. One major plot twist at a time I think." He nodded and reached for the door. "Use the room on the second floor. Last door before the attic opening. He was a Slytherin and Sirius's brother. I think you'd feel more comfortable there than on the couch next to Mrs. Black's portrait. We'll talk tomorrow."

Draco nodded and head off to the third floor. Having space from Granger made him feel better. He didn't know what had happened but he did know he didn't feel like a boy anymore. They had come to an understanding. He didn't want to die and she didn't want him dead. He knew Potter wanted the same. Whatever mission they were on was more important than school rivalries.

He reached the room with the plaque that read R.A.B and stepped inside. It looked like one of the dorms back at the dungeons. It reminded him of Blaise's room. Always so spirited yet dark and organized. This room also seemed to have been ransacked but for the most part it was still in better shape than the other rooms. He picked up the floor and set things back where he thought they belonged.

He got in the bed and before he knew it he was asleep, haunted by the memories of unforgivable curses and laughing witches.

* * *

><p><strong>Meaning of title: Never tickle a sleeping dragon.<strong>

**I've been working pretty hard on writing this story, even digging into concepts I've never written about before. I hope you all are liking it and if you are please please please leave a review and let me know. I know this is still early on but I have really big plans for this story.**

**Please leave a review :)**

**-Maria**


	5. Different Page, Different Story

Different Page, Different Story

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><p>Hermione was exhausted but there was no way she would be getting any sleep tonight. The wedding seemed years ago. She closed her eyes while she lay next to Ron who slept on the floor beside the couch she rested on. She remembered how he looked in that tuxedo Molly had practically wrestled him into. The way he had been so jealous to see Viktor Krum at Bill and Fleur's nuptials.<p>

He thought she hadn't noticed but she'd noticed everything about him. How he was always protective of her and sincere in his love for their friendship but that's what they would always have. A friendship. It pained her but in her heart she knew it was true. She wasn't sure if that's what he wanted but being so close to death so many times had taught her one thing. Life is too short to hope. Hope that one day Ron would change his mind about her. Hope that one day she would get the guts to kiss him. Hope was for people who weren't running for their lives. Draco's surprise allegiance switch was a testament to the fact that nobody knew what tomorrow would bring.

She took one look at him and scrambled to her feet. There was no point in laying there if she knew she wasn't going to sleep. After giving Malfoy directions to Regulus's room she had come here only to find Ron passed out and Harry gone. She would have sprinted towards the door to stop him from leaving if she hadn't heard him in the kitchen.

She clutched her cardigan tighter to her chest and descended the stairs. It was icy cold in the house and the events of the day before were still giving her goosebumps randomly.

At the bottom she took a right and was met with warmth and the smell of tea brewing. She closed her eyes and moaned before she entered the kitchen.

"Can't sleep either?" Harry said standing by the stove where he poured hot water over two mugs. "I heard you coming down, I assume we can both use something warm. Also, it's the only thing in the cupboards."

"We'll have to figure that out," she said taking a mug and sipping slightly in order to not burn herself. She took a seat at the table the Weasley family had once made seem so small.

"We have a lot of things to work out," Harry sat across from her and she noticed how he wasn't making eye contact. "Like what we're going to do with Malfoy."

"Did you listen?" Hermione asked letting her hands grip the mug and warm her fingers. "When I went to give him the toothbrush you were pretending to be asleep. Then when I came back you were gone." Harry nodded but she wasn't upset. She had done the same thing. "You should have just come in."

"It seemed like it was something you had to do. I owe you that much, you and Ron-"

"Harry please," Hermione said a bit frustrated. "We're not going anywhere you hear me? At least I'm not. Malfoy caught us all off guard. We'll get through this."

"I keep wondering when I'll feel guilty for practically imprisoning him," Harry looked up through his lashes. There was no emotion in his eyes, just an old soul staring back at her. "Maybe I am more like him than I thought."

"He feels some guilt," Hermione said trying to find some part of Harry that she had known. Ever since the night they lost Alastor and Hedwig, Harry had changed. Something had awoken and something else had died.

"That much is clear."

She stared at Harry while she drank her tea. Normally he would have asked her to kindly look away or ask her what her problem was but Harry was distracted with his own thoughts. She took a look around the kitchen and realized this was the first time they'd come to Grimmauld place after Sirius's death.

"Harry..." she whispered his name as she placed her mug on the table carefully. "As long as we're here maybe you should sleep in Sirius's room." She wasn't sure if it was a morbid suggestion but she'd do anything for Harry not to look like that anymore.

"Is it that noticeable that I miss him?" Hermione nodded unwilling to risk her voice. She hadn't known what it would mean to lose someone so close but now that her parents were wondering alone in Australia, unaware they had a daughter fighting in a magical war, gave her some perspective into Harry's pain.

"It feels wrong to be here without him even though he hated it," Harry took a sip of his tea and finally met her eyes. "I hate everything about this place but it's the only thing I have to remember him by. I don't even mind that it comes with Kreacher."

"Kreacher," Hermione kicked herself when she realized she had completely forgotten about the Black's house elf. "I hope Alastor brought him enough food when he was setting up the booby traps. Have you seen him by the way?"

She tried not to think about the late auror too much. There were only so many deaths that could fill her mind without her going mad.

"No and try not to say his name too much. I'm not ready to deal with him just yet." Their conversation fizzled and they stayed in comfortable silence even after the sun started rising.

She wondered what it was like outside. Surely there were still Death Eaters and Voldemort was more powerful than ever. He had Horcruxes galore and more power than any one being should have over an entire population of wizards. She thought about poor Fleur and Bill and wished that they had made it out safely.

After they had made the Unbreakable Vow; Harry, Ron and herself had been upstairs catching their breath when Mr. Weasley's patronus had arrived and relieved them of their fear for anyone who might have been seriously hurt. She had been shaking with worry but at that she had calmed enough to get an hour or two of sleep. She had to face the rest of the day on that alone.

"I don't know if you heard me tell Draco that I'd talk to Ron about a certain clause in our vow." Her voice trailed off wondering if he would catch onto her calling Malfoy by his first name. It tasted sour in her mouth and she didn't like it but old habits did die hard.

"The 'you can't hurt anyone on our side' clause. That includes us huh?" Harry said. "No I didn't hear you tell him but I did think about it when I threatened to kill him and then realized it seemed a bit cowardly to do that to someone who couldn't fight back."

"You didn't say anything to him about it though," Hermione remembered the conversation she had eavesdropped on. But then also remembered the things Draco had told Harry about the Death Eaters and what they planned to do to her and she shivered from head to foot.

"We'll both talk to Ron," Harry said avoiding her comment. "I think we need to decide how much to tell Malfoy about what we're doing."

"He knows it's something important," Hermione said standing up no longer being able to control her shivers. At least pacing wouldn't draw attention to the way goosebumps had made their way up her neck. "I told him it was more important than school rivalries. I meant it, but I don't want to put words in your mouth. Do you agree?"

"He wouldn't be here if it wasn't true. He might know something, anything. It's too much of a risk to let him leave now anyway." Harry also stood and came to her side, "I had a feeling in my gut telling me to take his deal. He's a bloody git and I'll probably never trust him much less like him but he did take the vow and that night on the tower, he was lowering his wand. These past two months have made me realize nothing is black and white."

She was about to say something else when Ron burst through the door, panic written all over his face.

"I thought-hurt you-in your sleep-you were both gone!"

Hermione went over to him and ran a soothing hand down his arm and tried to calm him, "It's okay Ron. Harry and I couldn't sleep. Sorry we should have written you a note."

Ron coughed and the redness she had come to associate with some deep emotion crept up and covered his face. "Right, I just thought that git had done something to you."

"He can't Ron," Hermione said stepping away and taking her hand off of him. "That's actually something we wanted to talk to you about."

Harry stood and placed a hand behind Hermione. She was glad she didn't have to do this alone. Telling Ron to behave was like telling Fred and George to never prank another living soul again.

"We think it'd be in everyone's best interest if we kept things civil. At least while we are all under the same roof." Harry began but Ron was shaking his head.

"No. No way, if he thinks he can just get away with being the same conniving spoiled ferret he was back in school then I won't hold back and you can't honestly expect me to-"

"Ron please," Hermione begged. She had wanted to relive the punch she bestowed upon him in third year plenty of times since they had found him here but she'd held back, how could Ron not? "He'll die the moment you provoke him. I saw it okay, the vow was legitimate."

"What!" Ron shouted and his face turned even more red if that was possible. She realized her mistake almost immediately. "He tried to hurt you? When?"

"It's not what you think, we were arguing and I was hitting him. He grabbed my wrists and yes for a second it hurt but the moment he knew something was wrong he let go. He felt something okay! Ron!"

She miraculously nudged her way between him and the door separating them and the rest of the house when he had turned to, no doubt confront Draco. Harry was just standing back, neither helping her or holding Ron back.

"Please, I'm actually begging you Ron. Don't do something stupid. The Horcruxes, that's what we want remember. If you do something you'll have his death on your hands. Do you want that?"

Ron was speechless but he had stopped trying to get past her. She could see some sanity returning to his eyes. He was still angry but he was listening now.

Harry who had been silent during this exchange placed a hand on Ron's shoulder. Ron took a step back and she noticed how close they had been. He had almost attempted to climb over her.

"Do you want that on her?" Harry asked while both Ron and herself stared at him in shock.

"I told you not to do it," Ron shook Harry's hand off of him and then turned towards Hermione. "I told you this was stupid. Only you two would see something good in that git. Well let me tell you something both of you wouldn't understand. People like him, wizards like him. They never change. Blood is the only thing they care about and he'll screw us all over sooner or later."

Hermione shook harder than ever. She couldn't believe that. Not after what she'd heard Draco tell Harry. How broken he had sounded over what he'd experienced. Things she had avoided thinking for years had flooded her thoughts in the hours following his confession and their conversation. Seeing Cedric's body and the similarities in color to Dumbledore's at the foot of the North Tower. Having to obliviate her parents in order to come here. Hearing the screams at Fleur and Bill's wedding and then being attacked at the coffee shop. There had to be some good in everyone or else her world would come undone.

"Please Ron," she almost whispered. She saw how he looked at her. Like he didn't even recognize her. She could feel tears running down her cheeks but she didn't bother wiping them away. He had never been good around her while she was emotional so she wondered if she was making things worse.

"Fine," he said pushing her aside and then turned to address them both. "I won't provoke the git but don't be surprised when he sells us out." Ron pushed past her and ran up the stairs. When he was back in the room they had all tried to sleep in he slammed the door and kicked around a few things then it all just went silent.

Hermione had been staring at the kitchen door while she listened to the commotion and when it seemed like Ron had settled down she turned around only to find Harry staring back at her dejectedly.

"Were you going to tell me-" Harry began.

"Yes! Of course I just had other more important things to talk to you about. It's not even a big deal Harry-"

"He tried to hurt you! How is that not a big deal?" Harry had grabbed the back of a chair and lifted it a few inches off the ground only to slam it down on the wooden floor.

"I can take care of myself!" Hermione scoffed, "besides, the vow worked didn't it?"

"That's not the point Hermione!"

"Then what is?" She yelled almost as angry as him now.

Harry seemed on the verge of saying something before he clamped down on whatever words that were going to spill out and decided to ignore her instead.

She let out an irritated growl before turning and leaving him to his lonesome. She climbed the steps and was about to turn into the room Ron was currently occupying before she decided what a terrible idea that was and continued to climb the steps onto the second floor. It had been at least 3 hours since Draco had gone to bed and since the rest of the house was so angry with her she figured she might as well add another one to the list.

She walked up to the room she had only been in once before during Molly Weasley's cleaning extravaganza back in their 5th year. Sirius' brothers room hadn't needed too much cleaning and she'd only been inside to help Mrs. Weasley with the linen.

She came to the door and raised her hand to knock when she saw something that made her stop dead in her tracks.

"Ron! Harry!" She screamed so loud she heard Draco fall off his bed on the other side of the door. "RON! HARRY! SECOND FLOOR NOW!"

She heard their hurried steps coming when Draco opened the door. He had his wand at the ready and was surveying the area around her but when he found no immediate threat he looked at her like she had lost her mind.

"What the bloody hell Granger?!" He lowered his wand when Harry and Ron raced towards her.

"Did he do something? Can I hit him now?" Ron pointed his wand wildly at Draco while the latter took a step back into Regulus's room, hands in the air.

"No! Ron, Harry look!" She pointed her finger at the simple plaque that adorned Regulus's room.

_Do Not Enter_

_Without the Express Permission of_

_Regulus Arcturus Black_

"Regulus? So?" Ron asked still pointing his wand at Draco then realization flooded his features, "Wait, R.A.B? Locket R.A.B? It couldn't be him could it?"

"Hold on," Harry said, "if you'll excuse us Malfoy." Harry grabbed the door nob and closed the door on Draco whose baffled face disappeared behind the closing door. He murmured a locking and silencing charm on the door before they resumed their speaking.

"Harry you told us that Sirius has said Regulus was a death eater who mysteriously went rogue and was killed. Is it so far fetched?" Hermione began.

"Wait," Harry said taking a step back. "Remember that locket we were all trying to open when we were cleaning, could it have been..."

His voice faded just as Hermione felt the blood drain from her face. Ron actually swore.

"It couldn't have been, wouldn't we have known?" Ron asked leaning against the door for some stability.

"I don't think so," Harry was a million miles away, lost in his thoughts. "The diary felt magical, it didn't feel dangerous but it did feel like...like it wasn't just a diary, if that makes sense."

"What happened to it?" Hermione asked the question everyone was wondering.

"Well lets think," Ron said almost like they hadn't just been fighting. "I remember all of us trying to open it and then when we couldn't..."

"We threw it away," Harry finished. He sank to the floor, resting his arms on his knees, his wand pointed down mirroring his disappointed facial features.

"No," Hermione said side stepping both Ron and Harry on her way to the stairs. She continued to talk as she heard them follow her. "Remember? Kreacher had been going through the trash. Sirius told us. He might have it Harry!" Hermione was almost giddy with hope. Now she thought it was the most wonderful feeling.

Her plan was to go and knock on Kreacher's known cupboard but Harry had more urgent plans.

"Kreacher!" He yelled behind them making Ron and Hermione jump. A second later they jumped again when an old and worn Kreacher appeared before them.

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><p><strong>Don't forget to review! :)<strong>

**-Maria**


	6. Back from the Dead

Back From the Dead

It seemed nothing had changed with the Black's house-elf. He still wore the same tatty and dirty pillowcase, his long and wide ears draping over the front and back of his head, nearly long enough to rest against his small shoulders.

"Master Potter," Kreacher spoke slowly and vehemently. "He's back with his mudblood and blood traitor friends-"

"Let's get this out of the way," Harry said stepping in front of Ron and Hermione. "You won't use the words mudblood or blood traitor in this house ever again Kreacher. That's an order."

"Yes Master Potter," Kreacher bowed lowly, his ears flopping onto his face.

"I need to ask you some questions Kreacher and I order you to answer them truthfully, do you understand?" Harry asked. The elation of being so close to the locket was almost making him trip over his words.

Kreacher bowed again as if someone was putting a heavy hand on his back and forcing him to do it. "Yes Master Potter."

"When we were all here two years ago, there was locket in the drawing room upstairs. We threw it away, you were stealing a lot of things back then, was the locket one of those things?" Hermione was so anxious and nervous that she inched closer to Harry to be able to hear better.

Kreacher was silent for a moment, having noticed Hermione coming closer. He looked at her and Ron briefly before addressing Harry. "Yes."

Harry kneeled in front of Kreacher to be at eye level. Hermione could tell he was having trouble containing himself.

"Where is it now Kreacher?"

Kreacher closed his eyes and his ears dropped so low they brushed his dirty clothes. He seemed to be on the verge of crying or screaming, Hermione couldn't tell which.

"Gone," Kreacher croaked.

"Gone?" The three of them repeated.

Harry tried to stabilize himself on his two feet, "What do you mean it's gone Kreacher?"

Kreacher started to shiver as Hermione's hands came up to her mouth. It was starting to dawn on them.

"Kreacher, I order you to tell me what you mean by 'gone'!" Harry was desperate.

"Mundungus Fletcher!" The elf fell to his knees as his big wide eyes filled with tears and his tiny fists balled up. "He stole it all! Miss Bella's and Miss Cissy's pictures, my Mistress's gloves, the Order of Merlin First Class, the goblets with the family crest, and – and – "

Kreacher was beside himself.

" – and the locket! Master Regulus's locket, Kreacher did wrong, Kreacher failed his orders!"

Hermione gasped, Ron swore again, and Harry flung himself between Kreacher and the poker by the grate. Harry and Kreacher struggled for the pointed metal stick but Harry won out.

"Kreacher I order you to remain still!" Harry threw the poker out of reach of Kreacher and sat back.

Kreacher was crying but his arms were snapped down to his sides. He was unable to wipe his tears away, he might as well have been a petrified crying elf.

"Harry let him up!" Hermione yelled coming to sit next to Harry. She was about to reach for the elf when she felt Ron's hand on her shoulder. She looked back at Ron only to find him white faced but determined.

"No, I won't have him hurting himself." Harry responded, "Kreacher, tell us about the locket. You said it was Master Regulus's locket, how did he get it, what did he tell you about it?"

Kreacher shivered and cried. He tried to talk but his tears were pouring into his mouth, they couldn't understand.

"Harry please," Hermione begged.

Harry glanced at her pale features and gave in.

"Kreacher sit up, I – I give you permission to move but you are not allowed to hurt yourself!" Kreacher sniffled and groaned as he sat up against the leg of a chair. He wiped his tears and blew his nose into his pillow case all the while trying to shrink into himself.

"Kreacher can you tell us about the locket?" Hermione whispered trying not to startle him.

The elf retched, "Kreacher doesn't answer to mudbloods!-"

"Kreacher!" Harry shouted. He gave Hermione a glare that read 'I told you so,'. "I won't tell you again not to insult my friends. Do you understand?"

"Yes Master Potter, of course." Kreacher blew his nose again and pulled his knees up into himself.

"Now, tell us about the locket, everything you know." Harry said.

Kreacher's lips trembeled and his eyes closed but he began to talk, "Master Sirius had run away, good riddance, he cause my Mistress much heartache. She only had Master Regulus now and Master Regulus was good to Kreacher. Master Regulus trusted Kreacher." The elf's lower lip trembled and they saw how much he was struggling to hurt himself but the magic binding him to Harry's order was restraining him.

"Master Regulus was gone often but sometimes he would come back here and tell Kreacher about his new friends and Kreacher wasn't allowed to tell anyone. But Master Regulus was scared, he was scared of his new friends and he wanted to leave them. Kreacher told Master Regulus that Mistress would want her only good son to be here, that he was safe here and Master Regulus told Kreacher..." he was crying so hard now that Hermione was actively trying to stop herself from crawling over to hug him. "Master Regulus told Kreacher he was right. He said he needed Kreacher's help with – with a task and Kreacher let him down!"

Harry shifted awkwardly between Hermione and Ron but gave Kreacher a moment to recover. He had forgotten how distressed a house elf could become when they thought they failed the people they served.

"It's okay Kreacher, just tell us what you know. It's important okay? Master Regulus would need you to be strong right now." Harry tried to encourage him. Dumbledore's voice rang in his mind. '_He was forced to do __Sirius's__ bidding, because Sirius was the last of the family to which he was enslaved, but he felt no true loyalty to him. And whatever Kreacher's faults, it must be admitted that Sirius did nothing to make Kreacher's lot easier.__'_

Kreacher nodded and sobbed for a long second before he resumed his story, "Master Regulus told Kreacher a friend of his needed help. He said he had asked for Kreacher personally and that it would mean a great deal to Master Regulus if Kreacher agreed to help his friend. He told Kreacher to do what was asked of him and then to come home. So Kreacher went with Master Regulus's friend."

Kreacher's voice grew quiet and he seemed lost in his words now. Hermione wasn't sure she wanted to hear the rest.

"Master's friend was not – not nice. He was different and strange but Kreacher had promised so Kreacher went with him. They apparated to a large boulder in the middle of somewhere Kreacher knew not. They swam into a dark cave and even though Kreacher was scared he did everything Master Regulus's friend told him to do. He told Kreacher to ofter the wall of the cave his blood and he did. Then the rock opened and they came to a lake of darkness."

Hermione turned to Harry to see a stoic, almost dead expression painted on his face. He wasn't looking at Kreacher but rather at his knees bended underneath him. This sounded an awful lot like what he had told them about the locket when he had gone with Dumbledore.

"Kreacher followed the dark wizard onto a boat and the boat pulled and pulled. They came to a small island in the middle of the lake and Kreacher saw a basin but he couldn't see what was inside. The dark wizard put his long grey hand inside and pulled out a shell filled with what Kreacher thought was water. He told Kreacher to drink and Kreacher had too. It was horrible and Kreacher saw things Kreacher still dreams about. He didn't want to keep drinking but he was so thirsty and the dark wizard laughed at Kreacher but Kreacher had promised Master Regulus! He promised."

Hermione covered her mouth and cried. Ron put an arm around her and pulled her into him. She calmed a bit at that, she needed to hold herself together.

Kreacher was also beside himself but Harry had the foresight to put anything sharp or heavy at a good distance from him and it seemed his order was still working on Kreacher.

When he had calmed enough to continue it seemed Hermione had also calmed enough to listen.

"Kreacher, what happened next?" Harry asked.

"Kreacher drank everything. He – he sat down and saw the dark wizard pull out a locket with a snake wrapped around it from his robes then – then he put in the basin and the basin filled up with the evil potion and Kreacher thought it was over. Then the dark wizard got into the boat and left Kreacher there, so so thirsty. Kreacher reached into the edge and something grabbed Kreacher but Kreacher knew he had to get back to Master Regulus."

"The inferi," Harry whispered, "but how did you get out Kreacher? If Voldemort left you on the island how did you get back?"

"Kreacher went back home," Kreacher said blowing his nose again as a new batch of silent tears poured out of his eyes.

"Yes but how-"

"Kreacher went back home like Master Regulus asked him too," Kreacher said again and almost like Harry was questioning him, his story, his loyalty to Regulus.

"I know Kreacher but how-"

"Oh Harry honestly," Hermione stood and rubbed the tears out of her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "Regulus ordered Kreacher to come back so he did. House elves have magic that wizards have underestimated and abused for ages!" She paced back and forth between Ron and Harry as they tried to grasp what she was saying. "It makes sense that Voldemort would do the same as wizards have always done. He made Kreacher offer his blood, he made him drink the potion, he left him. Merlin he's thicker than I thought."

"What are you getting at?" Ron asked also standing up. "Are you saying Kreacher just apparated out of there? How can he do that and then how can you-know-who not realize it?"

Hermione fumed, "Because Ron! It's like I've been saying. House elves are extraordinary beings capable of amazing magic but just because they're slaves to wizards they are seen as inferior. Voldemort never expected anyone to find much less know about his horcruxes because one of his biggest faults is his ego. He made Kreacher do all of those things because he thinks house elves to be inferior. But Kreacher's magic allowed him to follow through on his orders and he came back. Kreacher you came back, you did what Master Regulus asked you to do-"

"No! NO! Kreacher failed Master Regulus he failed him when he didn't destroy the locket and then again when he let Mundungus Fletcher take it. Kreacher failed!" Kreacher launched himself again towards the poker but Harry got to it before he did. Kreacher curled up into a ball and cried. Just when it seemed he couldn't shed anymore tears.

"Kreacher calm down okay, what do you mean you failed to destroy the locket? How did you get the locket after you left the cave?" Harry asked trying to regain control of the situation.

"Master Regulus," Kreacher shivered and curled into himself tighter. "When Kreacher came back Master Regulus took care of him. He asked Kreacher what had happened and Kreacher told him everything. Master Regulus said that once Kreacher felt better he wanted him to take him to the black island so he could see for himself. He promised Kreacher wouldn't have to drink the evil potion again. Master Regulus read a lot in preparation, he studied old books and he kept asking Kreacher things about what he had seen. Then...then one day Master Regulus said it was time..."

Kreacher's sobs became something else then. It wasn't like he was mourning his master, he was mourning a friend and something inside Hermione broke.

"Master offered his blood at the entrance and he ordered Kreacher to take the locket and destroy it once they were out but...but.."

Tears were silently streaming down his face now. His voice had gone quiet and he didn't have to say anything else but the order Harry had given him made him continue.

"Master drank the potion and Kreacher took the locket. But Master reached for the lake water too fast and Kreacher couldn't stop the dead from taking his Master..."

"Oh Kreacher," Hermione whispered. She saw Ron lean against the wall, pale and sickly looking. Harry who was still kneeling beside Kreacher seemed even further away from them than he had the past few days.

"He didn't tell you how to destroy it?" Harry asked after a few moments of silence. Perhaps for Regulus who had unknowingly helped them and set them back at the same time.

"No," Kreacher said wiping his tears away with his hand. He sat Indian style and played with his fingers. He wasn't looking at them. "Kreacher knew he had to get the locket open but not even Kreacher's magic could do it. So he tried to keep it safe."

"When was it robbed? Was it after Sirius's death?" Kreacher nodded. Harry groaned and then stood. He placed the poker back near the grate. Hermione watched him trying to think, come up with a solution but she couldn't think with everything Kreacher had told them swirling around her.

"Well that's it isn't it?" Ron asked. "We're screwed."

Nobody answered.

"Kreacher," Harry said with a sigh turning to look at the house elf still sitting at the foot of the kitchen table. "This isn't an order but if you want you can help finish the task Master Regulus gave you."

All eyes went to Harry including Kreacher's.

"We have to find Mundungus Fletcher to know what he did with the locket. Do you want to help us find him?"

Kreacher was up on his feet faster than lightning.

"All I ask is that you bring him back here. Once we know where he has it or who he sold it to we can find it and help you destroy it, do you accept Kreacher?"

"Master Potter is giving Kreacher a choice?" Kreacher asked. There was no venom in his voice as he asked Harry. There was hope.

"This is your task Kreacher-"

"YES!" Kreacher didn't know what to do with himself. "Kreacher will find the thief for Master Regulus and Master Potter! He will!"

"Good," Harry said smiling. "Bring him back here and we can finish this together okay Kreacher?"

It seemed like Kreacher was going to give Harry's leg a hug but then thought better of it and instead smiled crookedly. He gave a little hop and then with a snap of his fingers he was gone.

"Do you think that was a good idea?" Ron asked looking warily between the spot Kreacher had just been and Harry. "Will he come back?"

"Yes," Harry said, "Regulus and Mrs. Black were the only people who treated him decently and we're his only hope of destroying the locket."

"You are trying to treat him decently," Hermione said holding back a smile.

Harry grimaced and then nodded, "Yes well maybe your spew thing is catching on."

"It's S.P.E.W, Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare-"

"That's all fine and dandy," a voice from behind them said. They all spun around, wands at the ready.

They weren't expecting to find Malfoy sitting on the steps of the stairs looking like he was bored out of his mind.

"How long have you been there?" Harry asked pushing his way through Hermione and Ron, lowering his wand.

"Long enough to know that even if he comes back with the thief you still won't have a locket. I don't know why you want that locket so desperately but if the Dark Lord wanted to keep something safe it must have been of great value."

"What are you getting at Malfoy?" Ron spat.

"What I'm saying is that something so clearly magical and valuable had to sell for a high price and anyone with enough money or power to buy it is going to be hard to get to. Unless your thief is a master negotiator." The Golden Trio glanced at one another. Mundungus was not the sharpest tool in the shed, far from it.

"We'll get to that when Kreacher get's back with him. How did you get out of your room?" Harry asked eying Malfoy's wand like it had been a bad idea to give it back to him.

"This thing called magic," Malfoy sneered. "Now, should I ask why this locket is so important or should I ask after breakfast?"

"It's none of your bloody business!" Ron shouted and Hermione placed a hand on his arm to try to calm him but Ron shook her off.

Hermione turned to Harry, they still hadn't discussed how much to tell Malfoy.

"It's important. That's all you have to know right now." Hermione could see Malfoy working out the clues. Between what he had heard and what he presumed about their mission it wasn't hard to see that he had already acknowledged the importance of the locket.

"Fine, where are we on the breakfast though?" Hermione's stomach turned painfully and it wasn't because she was hungry. Malfoy never gave up that easily.

Ron's words blared widely in her ears. _He'll screw us all over sooner or later. _

_Authors Note._

_I haven't left many author notes on this story mostly because I started writing this way before I started posting and it feels like I'm writing for myself rather than for others which is a first. Anything I want to say, I want to say to myself. But in doing that I have made this story more about what's in my head rather than what you guys want and that's not necessarily good or bad. I think it's important for us to communicate and I'm lucky that the Harry Potter fans on fanfiction are so nice. I'd like to hear more about what you want to see because I would really love to put things in that you guys want to read. I miss having a connection to readers :)_

_If you have nothing to add but would like to leave a review saying you liked the chapter or hated it, please do. Any type of feed back helps._

_-Maria_


	7. Every Second is a Second Chance

Every Second is a Second Chance

As soon as they'd had what was left in the pantry to eat, they all sat around the table awkwardly and began to interrogate Draco. As if scavenging for any remaining bits of edible food hadn't been awkward enough, the silence that followed when they were eating was worse.

As much as Hermione and Harry were trying to be nice to Draco there was still a deep seeded hatred fueled by years of school bullying and rivalry. The tension was palpable and Ron didn't help matters by eating as he glared at Malfoy across the table. His knife angled towards him and unnaturally close as if he was prepared to take action at a moments notice.

"Where should we start?" Hermione asked sitting next to Harry who sat next to Ron. Malfoy fidgeted in front of them nervously, the tight collar of his shirt seemingly strangling him. He'd need to transfigure it into something more casual and less restraining soon.

"The dark mark," Harry exhaled like he'd been holding in his breath since the beginning of 6h year. There was a glint in his eye that made Hermione squirm.

"Really?" Draco asked pulling up his sleeve and showing them the dark twisted tattoo. The snake glowed in the morning light and it's body moved slowly, enticing their stares. "That's what you wanted to see first?"

"Can he find you using it?" Harry asked not looking away from the skull and the snake coming out from its open jaw. It was sinister and oddly alluring.

Malfoy pulled down his sleeve and crossed his arms. "No, but anyone who has it can find him. We can also feel his rage."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked and she noticed how Malfoy uncrossed his arms and how they fell in front of him stiffly.

He shifted in his seat before answering, his steel gray eyes darkening. "It's dark magic this thing. It's like we're a part of him and he can control us. What he feels we feel. If he wants us to see what he pleases all he has to do is think it and we'll see it as if it were our reality. Many don't know how to stop it but my mother taught me how to control my thoughts. Eventually though it doesn't matter. Weakness can make it worse. If you're hurt or scared, he'll get through."

"Like legilimency, without a wand..." Harry said.

"Exactly," Draco looked at Harry strangely, like he was surprised that Harry knew about legilimency. "My mother and Snape are quite adept at it. She taught me all she knew so I could control what I saw."

Ron scoffed but didn't say anything. He wasn't even looking at Draco. He sat facing the other side of the kitchen. Draco could only see his right side, half of his face screwed up in a frown.

"Is that all it does?" Hermione asked curiously eying the spot where he had laid his arm so they could see even though it wasn't there anymore.

"I think so," Draco said running a finger over the sleeve of his arm. "It bloody hurts all the time. Particularly when he's angry with you."

"Does it hurt now?" Hermione asked trying to find the pain in his features but she couldn't see any.

"What do you think Granger? I left and all of the plans he was stupid enough to share in front of me are exposed."

"Don't be cheeky Malfoy," Ron said staring daggers at the blonde.

"Then tell your girlfriend not to ask stupid questions."

Ron was about to jump up from his seat when Harry interjected before things got out of hand.

"What happened after the night on the tower."

Draco was taken aback. He knew he'd have to answer the question or else die but he wasn't ready to talk about it yet. He'd already said too much to Potter the day before.

"Umm..." Draco started, cringing lightly at the feeling of a tightening in his chest. "When I got to the Hogwarts gates me and the other death eaters who'd been on the tower apparated to my home. All the death eaters were waiting to hear the news about Dumbledore. Bellatrix couldn't wait to tell him that he was dead. Of course when Snape walked through the door he must have seen. He congratulated Snape and then turned on me."

"What happ-" Harry started but Draco interrupted before he could be forced to answer.

"No," Draco said standing up. He took a step back, he wasn't ready. "It doesn't matter okay. Don't make me tell you what he did."

"You deserve it after what you tried to do," Ron said leaning back in his chair and watched Draco run a hand over his chest as if he was trying to shield it from something.

"I regret it okay?" Draco said speaking almost directly to Ron. "I regret it every bloody day of my life. If I hadn't been so blinded by my fear of him then maybe I would have accepted Dumbledore's help earlier. But I didn't. I think about it everyday, about what could have happened to my friends, to my family. I have to live with that."

"Typical," Ron spat also standing up. "We give you a second chance, we offer you an opportunity and you still don't see what you did to us. My sister was in that castle, my brothers and a ton of little eleven year old's frightened by the murderers you let into the school and all you can think about is-"

"His family," Hermione said catching Ron's glare briefly. "Please Ron just..." She didn't know what she wanted him to do. Drop it? Understand? She couldn't see what would drive someone to put so many people in danger but she had never been threatened like he had. When she was up against a wall she tried to find ways to tear the wall down not to crumble against it and give up.

"I don't want details," Harry said trying yet again to defuse the situation. "You told me earlier that there had been plans." His face turned briefly to Hermione and then to Ron. Ron still didn't know what Draco had told Harry and what Hermione had overheard.

"What plans?" Ron asked but when neither Hermione or Harry spoke he directed his frustration to Draco, "What plans!"

Draco took another step back and tried to avoid eye contact with all of them. The images were still perfectly engraved in his mind. He didn't know what Granger looked like naked but the death eaters had sure given it a lot of thought, especially the ones who had seen her in the castle the night Albus Dumbledore was killed. Her and all of the other female students who had awoken.

The Dark Lord had been unforgiving in sharing the crude images and he could still hear the screams of the more than real victims his home had seen. Imagination was a speck of moon dust compared to the giant truth of reality.

"There are legal measures that will go into effect soon. Muggleborn witches and wizards will be asked to go to the Ministry of Magic and surrender their wands. They'll try to make it seem more innocent than that but the Dark Lord is behind it all. They'll take the muggleborns to Azkaban and the death eaters will have their pick from the lot. They are particularly interested in Granger."

Ron's knuckles turned white and he stood from his seat nearly toppling it over. Draco held his wand by his side tightly but Ron didn't approach him. He just turned and walked towards the window. He stood by it, head hunched and shoulders tensed.

"That's barbaric," Hermione whispered nearly as white as the walls of the kitchen. "Surely the ministry-"

"He IS the ministry."

The silence was deafening as the news settled in.

"Snape," Harry let out also standing but instead of staying in one place like Ron, he paced. "Tell us what he told you." He was trying to stray from the topic that had turned the atmosphere of the already suffocating kitchen even thicker.

"He knew I wanted to switch alliances. He was willing to help me."

"Even though he killed Dumbledore..." Harry added.

Draco didn't say anything at first, remembering his last talk with his old potions master.

"He said he owed him a favor. That's all he said."

"Rubbish," Ron interjected and this time neither Harry or Hermione tried to stop him. "You know more. How does someone just kill another human being and not feel remorse. Do you even know what you're implying?"

"Of course I do-" Draco was on the defensive now.

"Remus said that Dumbledore trusted Snape and if he did then we should all trust Snape." Harry rested his arms on the chair in front of him. A far away look on his face. Perhaps he was trying to convince himself.

"That was before Snape sent Dumbledore flying off the north tower!" Ron bellowed. Hermione also stood now. The color still hadn't returned to her face.

"Draco can't lie..." Hermione said. "We asked him a question he is bound to answer and even if he could twist the truth he gave a straight answer."

"Okay so maybe Malfoy isn't lying but Snape probably was."

It was like Draco wasn't even in the room anymore.

"Need I remind you two that Snape sent him here, I thought that was impossible? How did he do it if we're all supposed to be the secret keepers now? How is Snape not dead for it?" Ron was practically jumping in the air.

Hermione and Harry interchanged glances and then glanced expectantly at Draco.

"I don't know alright? I'm not even sure how all this works. How the death eaters don't burst through the doors every time you break the taboo or how they can't see this place yet they clearly know we're in here."

"It's a safe house that the best wizards of all time guarded exclusively. Snape was working with Dumbledore when Sirius offered the place to the order. He must have seen a loophole." Hermione started to bite her finger nails trying to figure it out.

"All I know is Snape gave me a piece of paper with this address on it. He showed me how to get in with a memory of his and that's all. I – I don't even think the address was written in his hand writing."

"A piece of paper?" Harry asked stepping around the table and searching Draco's face for he didn't know what. "He never actually said anything? Was the handwriting a bit messy? Kind of swirly and – and..."

"I guess?" Draco said not knowing what was going on.

"Harry?" Hermione sounded apprehensive.

"It was him!" Harry spun around, a half smile on his face. "Dumbledore. When he wrote mine he must have written a second. Given it to Snape. What if Dumbledore did it so Voldemort wouldn't doubt Snape's loyalty?"

"That's a bit severe mate," Ron said just as apprehensive as Hermione. "Asking Snape to kill him so it doesn't look like Snape's gone soft? We hate Snape remember? Snape tried to help this idiot break Bellatrix Lestrange and Greyback into Hogwarts. Snape stood by as Umbridge took over the school. He's the reason Sirius..."

"Stop," Harry said dangerously. "I do hate him, but Dumbledore trusted him. I think it's time I start trusting who he trusted or else I can't do this mission. It'll drive me insane."

"Trust Snape? He killed Dumbledore!" Ron bellowed as if it wasn't the most obvious thing in the world.

"What does it matter anyway Harry?" Hermione asked tentatively speaking over Ron's rants.

Harry leaned into the table and rested his hands on it. "It matters because it means someone is still with Voldemort who's on our side. I have to believe that. Dumbledore was all about signs. I think Dumbledore knew I wanted leave and do this by myself. I think he would have believed we'd end up back here and he told Snape. Maybe sending Malfoy was sign. He knew how much I hated Snape. I think for once I'm thinking like he wanted me to."

"And what about all the stuff Snape did. What about him killing Dumbledore? Are we really going to believe this nonsense about Dumbledore asking him to do it? That's what we're all thinking right? There has to be a better reason." Ron was almost beside himself.

"We've always found reasons to hate Snape," Hermione whispered as Ron let out an exasperated sigh. "Dumbledore was dying, the curse...it was eating him alive."

She stopped short noticing Draco but she didn't elaborate. "It's not out of the realm of possibility but still highly unlikely. I suggest we keep acting like Snape is on Voldemort's side. We can't risk it."

"Yet we can risk having him here!" Ron pointed at Draco as the latter flinched.

Neither Hermione or Harry answered, both still lost in their own worlds.

"I've basically given you my life, I'm willing to surrender all the information I have, I can't even fight back if I wanted to. What more do you want?" Draco asked.

"The last six years back," Ron said before storming out of the room.

"Ron!" Hermione yelled. She was about to go after him when Harry stopped her.

"We need food desperately. I'll go with Ron, we'll use the invisibility cloak so the death eaters outside won't see us. Maybe it'd be best for everyone if we just have a little space. Give me an hour."

"Harry no," Hermione whined. "It's too dangerous, we can manage-"

"We can't live without food and if we don't go now we'll find excuses not too later as well. Don't worry, we won't take off the cloak at all."

Before Hermione could say another word Harry was gone. She heard him running up the stairs no doubt to let Ron know of his plan. That left her and Draco alone.

"They'll be fine," Draco said sitting back down at the table. "The two death eaters outside are thicker than Crabbe and Goyle. They're not there to chase, just to confirm that someone is in here. We'll watch from the window and if it seems like they see something we'll leave."

"And Ron and Harry?" Asked Hermione.

"Don't you have ways of communicating with them?" Draco asked surprised. He saw her fidget and then turn to leave. He tried not to smile but was grateful that he had said something at least slightly helpful.

He reached for his left forearm and ran his hand over the fabric that covered his tattoo. It was aching painfully. Almost like it knew he had divulged secrets about its master. He knew the questioning wasn't over and the questions that were to come would be a lot harder to answer without exposing the truth and extent of his torture.

When Harry and Ron had descended the stairs, Harry holding a piece of fabric that Draco had to assume was the infamous invisibility cloak, he had managed to stay out of the way. The last time he'd been this close to Potter and his cloak Draco had broken his nose.

Ron purposely ignored him which was fine by Draco.

He went to the window and heard Harry and Ron open the front door already under their cloak. The two death eaters who were watching the house didn't even stir.

"I think it's working," Draco whispered and then jumped when he felt Hermione at his side.

"You're good Harry!" She whispered yelled. They heard the front door close and the two death eater's outside were non the wiser.

Then they really were alone.

They stood side by side watching the death eaters. One was watching the invisible space between 11 and 13 while the other surveyed the area around them carefully. The two death eaters seemed so out of place but they also didn't seem to care.

"Who are they?" Hermione asked crossing her arms as if she were cold. She just couldn't get rid of the shivers that rocked her body every few seconds.

Draco wondered if she was cold or if she was nervous. Probably both. This place seemed uninviting at best and her two best friends had just left to risk their lives for a piece of toast and some tea.

"Hill is the bulky one, kind of looks like he's trying to remember the name of the commanding officer during the 5th goblin war. Bloody idiot but loyal to the bone. Turner is the skinny tall one. Won't go anywhere without Hill. Mother told me she went to school with him, he's not very bright. Might not even like the dark side much but because of Hill..."

Draco was rambling but she was holding on to his every word.

"Kind of like you," she said looking at him with pity.

"What?" Draco asked feeling the hitch in his throat.

Hermione opened her mouth and then looked away, a soft blush covering her cheeks. "I just meant, you were on their side because of your parents right? So you're kind of like Turner-"

"I'm nothing like him, like them." Draco was teetering on the edge. Flash backs that he was trying to hold back were banging on the walls of his mind.

"It's okay," Hermione tried to say, "you're here now right? It means you were never like them."

He wasn't sure why he hated her words. It should have made him feel better, like he was making progress but he was trembling nonetheless.

"Just because I'm here now doesn't mean I like you Granger, doesn't mean we'll be friends. I've only decided I don't want to kill for their side anymore."

Hermione was taken aback, "Anymore?"

"I – I didn't mean that-"

"But you said it!" Hermione took a step back and that just made him even angrier.

"You don't know what you're talking about Granger!" He just wanted her to take her step back. To wipe that look off her face.

"What did you do Malfoy?" Her voice quivered and she searched his face, his eyes, his soul with those words.

This time he took a step back and the sharp sensations were tingling inside of him. He looked down and wondered what would happen if he simply defied the vow? Would there be any scars? Any bleeding? Would he just drop dead?

"Don't," Draco said for what was the second time today. "Don't make me say it."

"What can you say?"

Draco's head snapped up, a dark glint in his eye and murder in his voice, "I'll kill them all and if I get a chance I'll kill Voldemort too."

It had been five long and exhausting days since Kreacher had left to find Mundungus and there was still no word from the elf or the thief. The tension in the Black house was at an all time high.

There had been a moment of brief happiness when Harry had found a letter his mother had written Sirius and a fragment of a photograph taken many years ago of himself and who he believed to be his mother. He could not find the piece with his mother but the letter had given him hope. That one day all could be well again and if not, then perhaps he'd get to see his mother.

They had left Draco to his own devices and immersed themselves into horcrux hunting. She had delved into the old words the horcrux book provided her. It made her stomach turn each time she flipped a page but she ignored the nauseating feeling that overcame her.

Ron and Harry were intent on figuring out why exactly Dumbledore had gifted them the deluminator, the golden snitch, and the Tales of Beedle the Bard if not for the sole purpose of helping them find horcruxes. They were fortunate to have the Black's extensive library at their disposal but so far they were coming up empty handed.

They desperately wanted news from the Order and they needed to move forward on their horcrux hunting. The tension in the house was overwhelming them all, including Malfoy.

She didn't know what to think about what he had said when Ron and Harry had left. His words still haunted her and she wasn't sure if she should feel sorry for him or fear him.

She wanted to know what he'd done or what had been done to him. The day after the vow had been very telling. It was almost like she wanted to see the Malfoy she had known and hated all along but he was non existent except for his rude remarks and pretentious smirks. Other than the telling features like his blonde hair and gray eyes he was a different person.

Aside from calling her mudblood the one time when he was trying to get a rise out of her, he never uttered the foul word. For all intents and purposes Malfoy was a proper boy but whatever he was hiding scared her. What ever he was hiding, it had changed him.

It scared her because she didn't know this Malfoy. The one who had thanked her for the toothbrush, albeit she had made him do so. She didn't know the Malfoy who didn't cower behind injuries. When Buckbeak had injured him he had whimpered for a whole month about it. Now, now that something so clearly horrible had been done to him, he was mute.

And what he said about killing them all. She figured he meant the death eaters. He was bound by their vow to not hurt anyone on their side. He held special hatred towards Voldemort. She realized she didn't mind what he had said as much as how he said it. So easily and with so much conviction. It dawned on her that she had no idea what she would do if he had no problem killing. Was it really her business so long as it wasn't someone on her side? People on their side had killed, she wasn't oblivious to that.

Surely Alstor had, not for sport or for revenge but Aurors had dangerous jobs. Sometimes it happened. Harry would have to face death eventually. Kill or be killed. Would she hate him? She had brushed it off because Voldemort was so clearly evil but what if it came down to it in the end?

These were the thoughts that kept her up for five nights and because she couldn't sleep, she read and when she couldn't read anymore she bugged Ron and Harry about Draco.

"So it doesn't bug you?" Hermione asked Harry whose face was buried deep inside a book about Quidditch trying to find out more about the history of golden snitches. Only once had she seen him this committed to finding an answer and the reason behind that time was in the kitchen two stories down.

Harry huffed and didn't answer her. Ron who sat a few feet away from them clicked the deluminator again and a soft ball of light flew across the room to a solitary candle. He had figured out how to capture the glow of single objects after Hermione had threatened to chuck it out the window if he took the light out of the entire room again.

"It bugs me," Ron said nonchalantly. He clicked it again and the candle extinguished. "What is he hiding? And whatever it is, can we really think any less of him anymore than we already do?"

"Ron that's awful," Hermione almost whispered. She wanted to agree. She wanted to loath Malfoy. It just seemed pointless now. After all they'd lost. After all she'd lost.

"He's the reason you can't see your parents Hermione," Ron said almost without thinking.

Harry peered over his book, a crease permanently etching itself on his forehead. He cleared his throat and Ron looked at him. Harry shook his head in disappointment and that's when Ron noticed Hermione.

"Mione, you know what I mean-"

She closed the book she'd been reading and set it beside her. She didn't want to look at him right now instead choosing to stare at her clenched hands. "The thing is Ron, I don't think I do anymore. Stopping Voldemort is our cause now. Malfoy isn't a death eater anymore and worst yet is he's right. He gave us everything and we can use him and dispose of him just like Voldemort would have. I think the difference between me and you is that I don't want to be like him. I'm making an effort and you're just...you're just being cruel."

She stood and was about to leave when she turned around to face Harry.

"I think I'll take Malfoy to get some food. We ran out last night and I really need to get out of here. Where's the cloak?"

"In my room," Harry stood, glancing momentarily in Ron's direction but she didn't want to see his face yet. "I know what you said and I agree but do you think you'll be okay? Just you and him?"

Hermione's lips drew into a straight line and she tried not to sound exasperated, "I can handle him."

Harry nodded and she took that as approval. She didn't want to know what Ron had to say, she didn't want to be anywhere near him at the moment.

She was probably being reckless but that didn't stop her from barging into what used to be Sirus's room, now Harry's, and snatching the cloak.

She and Draco rarely spoke unless it was during one of his interrogations which she understood. They were getting more and more personal each time. Not to mention Ron getting nastier and Draco getting more defensive. She'd want to avoid them too.

Perhaps it was reckless, but this outing was necessary. She feared what would happen if they continued under these conditions.

Hermione stopped in her tracks. The cloak floating by her side.

"Malfoy?" She asked quizzically.

The blonde boy who had antagonized her for 6 years was standing tall and pensive in front of the Black family tree. At first she thought he was staring at his picture. But as she got closer it became obvious he was interested in Nymphadora's. Tonks had purple hair and a smile so big it took up most of her face.

"She's my cousin, this one." Draco pointed at Tonks and then shoved his hand back in his jeans. He had done a wonderful job transfiguring his clothes and even some blankets he had found to act as extras. She was beyond impressed but she didn't let on how much so.

She was proficient in transfiguration but it seemed he excelled. His relationship with Tonks made Hermione wonder if perhaps it was more than a coincidence.

"Did you ever meet her?" She asked and then wondered why she'd asked. She didn't really care, not too much. Tonks had never let on that she was related to the Malfoy's although she should have guessed given Kreacher's betrayal two years ago. Sirius was related to the Malfoy's and Tonks who had been his cousin as well.

"Once," Draco said but then he caught sight of the cloak under her arm. "Are you going somewhere?"

"You and I are going to get food."

Draco laughed.

Hermione dropped the bottom half of the cloak and then swung it around her shoulders. "Well what are you waiting for?"

"I'm not getting in there with you!" Draco backed away as if burned by the mere idea of being so close to her. It irritated her further but she tried to keep herself calm.

"Fine, you stay here then. I should warn you that Ron and I had a fight and if he comes looking for you I very much doubt you'll be safe-"

"Fine, fine. You're a bloody nuisance Granger. A pain in my-" Malfoy grumbled as he gathered some of the cloak and threw it over himself. She stepped in front of him and they practiced by walking down the flight of stairs together all the while Draco murmured under his breath.

She had twisted the truth to get him here but he had gotten in so she didn't feel so bad. A small smile at her triumph made its way onto her face.

"Are you enjoying this?" He asked pushing her slightly.

"Absolutely not," she said sarcastically. "Draco Malfoy under the sheets with a mudblood, your ancestors are turning in their graves."

"At this point they don't know which way is up and which is down," Draco said taking out his wand. They were standing in front of the door to the outside. There were still always at least two death eaters outside but it seemed they were starting to lose hope that the Golden Trio were residing inside of these particular walk ups.

"Ready?" Hermione whispered taking the handle of the door through the cloak. "We're going to apparate as soon as the door closes behind you. Grab my shoulder or something."

"Do you know where we're going?" He asked watching her hand still on the handle.

"Umm..." she thought for a moment. "There's a farmers market in Hereford. We'll have to stay under the cloak, someone might recognize us."

"You," Draco said. "I don't know anyone there."

"Well do you have any brilliant ideas?"

"I have one but it'd be even more dangerous. Rather go with yours until we find a safer place. Let's go." He gave her another push and she elbowed him in response.

She had the door pushed open and was pulling him through quicker than he had imagined. The door closed behind him and then he was being pushed through space and time. He hadn't been prepared and he hoped for her sake that he didn't end up splinched.

When they landed he checked himself over twice and then turned her around under the cloak. His hands tightened on her arms and almost immediately let go. The similarity between the first time he had grabbed her like that and this time was carved into his memory. He didn't wish to experience that panic again.

He cleared his throat roughly, "Give a guy a second won't you?"

"Sorry," she really did look regretful. "I panicked. I thought the cloak had come up over my shoes. You're much taller than I am."

"Just don't let it happen again Granger." He sneered. It was the Malfoy from Hogwarts who she saw then and her stomach turned awkwardly. She wasn't sure which she preferred. She realized it didn't matter. They were on the same side for once, prepared to fight the same people, under the same cloak, shopping for food.

A smile appeared on her face before she could stop it. Draco noticed and his anger disappeared only to be replaced by curiosity.

"What the hell is wrong with you Granger?"

She tried to make the grin go away but she couldn't, so she just spoke with it. "It just hit me, what we're doing."

"And what's that?"

"We're grocery shopping. You and me. Archenemies. Pure blood and mudblood. Isn't that funny?"

Draco frowned, "Is it really just dawning on you? This wasn't enough?" He reached for her wrist and held it in his hand. Every time they touched like this the tendrils that had wrapped around them and left scars would glow.

She opened her mouth to say something but a person walked too close to them and nearly bumped the cloak off. She gripped his hand and they got out of the way.

"Let's just get what we need and go, I have some muggle money with me-" she started to say before he grabbed her around the waist and started pushing her towards a vendor.

"You pay with that crap. I'm craving a cheese cake and my moral compass is broken so open up that magical purse of yours because we're going to feast tonight."

"Malfoy-" but it was too late. He had already reached for the cake and was pulling it inside the cloak before she could say another word. He began to steer her to another vendor and she resigned herself to bite her lip and just let it happen.

"We're going to hell for this," she whispered.

She felt rather than heard Draco laugh against her back. He was also being careful around the muggles. "Oh Granger, if we go to hell it's going to be for worse things than this."

"You're a bad influence," she groaned.

When they were finished they walked a fair amount of steps before Draco stopped them by steering her again in a certain direction. She thought they might look silly if it weren't for the cloak. Her in front of Malfoy, who was at least twelve inches taller than her; guiding her with two hands around her waist like some kind of backwards dance. At first his hands had felt foreign and awkward. Her greatest enemy had been touching her, touching her like he had done it a million times before.

"Where's that money you were going to use to pay the vendors?" Malfoy whispered against her ear.

There were more people walking around here. She looked around and noticed it was some kind of walk way leading to the market they had just been at.

She dug around her purse as he led her farther down the walk way coming to a stop a short distance away from a beggar.

"You want me to give him the money?" She asked incredulously. "What if he-"

"What if he what?" Draco asked turning her around under the cloak. "You gave me a chance, what's stopping you from giving him one too?"

"I don't know him! He could spend it on liquor or drugs for all I know." She felt awful saying it especially after they had stolen. She had no place to judge.

There was disappointment written all over Draco's features. She felt like he had been testing her, for what? She wasn't sure.

"Have a little faith Granger, I heard it changes people." She wasn't sure what he meant but she looked behind her to the man who sat on a piece of cardboard. A well groomed and healthy looking dog rested his head on his owners lap. She didn't doubt he was well taken care of.

"What are you doing Malfoy?" She said looking back at him. "What do you get out of this?"

He shrugged his shoulders and didn't answer. She sighed and turned around inside the cloak.

"Fine, lets do this." They walked a couple of steps and when they were in front of the man his dog barked, perhaps sensing a presence like Mrs Norris had done plenty of times before. The man looked at his dog to see what upset him and Hermione used the distraction to stick her hand out of the cloak and dump the money into a hat that was placed in front of him. She noticed he only had a dollar or two in it. It filled up significantly with her money.

She had expected to feel uneasy but as Draco pulled her into him and backed them out of the way of the people walking and the homeless man she smiled. Even through the black hole of apparation she appeared on the other side with a small smile on her face.

Then she looked up and realized they were back and the death eaters were still outside. Her small moment of happiness had been shadowed by her cruel reality.

When they stumbled into Grimmauld's Place and Draco let her go she almost missed his presence. But the sight of Kreacher apparating at the foot of the stairs with a struggling Mundungus Fletcher wiped that feeling away.

"Kreacher has returned with the thief!"

"Let me go you bleedin' house elf!"

* * *

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	8. Mundungus Speaks

Mundungus Speaks

At the sound of the commotion below, Ron and Harry came running. There was a moment when Harry's face lit up at seeing Mundungus, clearly knowing they'd have some answers soon and then realization that this man had stolen from his deceased god father over took him.

Hermione saw it coming a mile away but she was too far to stop it and honestly, if she had been close she wouldn't have. She rather felt like punching Mundungus herself.

Harry threw himself into his fist and Mundungus was probably out before his head even hit the floor.

Before Harry could throw another hit Ron stopped him by wrapping his strong arms around those of Harry's. Ron had been a keeper and Harry a seeker. Ron's upper body strength had Harry pinned.

"We need him alive mate," Ron said as Hermione checked to see if Mundungus was as out as he looked.

"We need to move him out of here, there's no space for all of us. _Mobilicorpus_," with her wand she moved Mundungus's body towards the dinning area and set him on the floor next to the table. After all, they did eat on the surface of the table.

"He looks more roughed up than normal," Draco acknowledged. All pair of eyes moved and landed on him. They had forgotten he was here.

Hermione looked at Harry and wondered silently if they should let him stay. Harry nodded and she took that as an okay.

"I thought you didn't know him," Harry said walking around Mundungus and looking inside his robes for his wand. Kreacher came up next to Harry and gave him what he was looking for. "Thanks Kreacher."

"I never actually said that," Draco said with a smile, then as soon as it had come it went. "He's a bloody idiot but he knows where to get certain artifacts. There's a reason he's never been sent to Azkaban."

"And your father surely used his services often, like with the diary?" Ron said. Hermione and Harry shot daggers at Ron.

Draco shrugged, he seemed unperturbed or curious by Ron's words but Hermione knew better. He was making connections in his head. He had too.

"I heard my father talk about a diary once but I don't know what you're talking about Weasley. My father collects plenty of strange and dangerous objects."

Ron was about to say something else when Hermione decided that this conversation needed to be over.

"I'm going to wake him up. Get ready in case he tries to make a run for it. _Rennervate_," a red light shot from Hermione's wand as everyone else's wand came up. The light hit Mundungus straight in the chest and the next thing she knew she was stumbling backwards at the sight of Mundungus flinging his body towards her.

Draco caught her before she could fall but she didn't have time to react because the kitchen erupted into chaos.

Kreacher had found a pan inside one of the cupboards and started hitting Mundungus with it. Mundungus fought with Kreacher and Harry for the pan. "You dare attack one of master's friends in front of Kreacher! Kreacher will make you pay in the name of Master Regulus!-"

"Kreacher no!" Harry yelled as he fought off Mundungus who was trying to get at Kreacher who was still trying to hit the thief.

On the other side of the kitchen Ron was yelling at Draco for touching Hermione.

"Get your hands off her you scum!-"

"Make me Weaselbee-"

"Stop it you two! I was falling Ron-"

"Yeah well he didn't have to grab you, I was right here-"

"You did a rubbish job of catching her!"

Hermione untangled herself from Draco and stood in the middle of the kitchen where it was still free of chaos, screaming, and grunts. She raised her wand above her head and muttered, "_Tonitrus_."

The room was filled with a clap of thunder so loud it shook the ground and the windows. Dust fell on all of them and a couple of chairs toppled over but when the blinding sound had dissipated they were all quiet.

What she saw would have made her laugh if she wasn't so incredibly frustrated.

Harry had his hands around Mundungus's neck as the latter was face down on the floor holding the frying pan Kreacher had used to hit him with. Kreacher was barring his teeth near Mundungus's leg, already a sharp set of teeth were marked on the pale skin.

Ron and Draco were facing each other, wands at the ready but what surprised her was Draco's bloody lip. In the time she had reached for her wand and sent the spell Ron had managed to hit him.

Her anger returned full force.

"Alright, that it!" She pointed her wand at Ron and Draco first. "No more fighting you two. I mean it. We're working together damnit. Behave!"

"And you!" She wasn't sure what she was going to say but first thing was first. "Kreacher, thank you for bring Mundungus back but we need him conscience in order to help you with Master Regulus's task okay? And Harry, well...the same goes to you. Can we just get on with it?"

Ron and Draco lowered their wands and stepped away from each other as far as they could. Kreacher let go of Mundungus's leg and took back the frying pan from Mundungus's clenched hands but refrained from hitting the thief again.

Harry got off Mundungus and grabbed both his wand and the thief's and pointed his at the angry man. Mundungus turned over and sat up on a chair that had fallen next to him.

"What the bloody hell do you lot want?" He said between thin lips. "You send a crazed house elf after me when all I'm tryin' to do is sell ma stuff an earn a livin'!"

"Selling stolen stuff, stuff you got from here!" Harry exclaimed and stepped forward.

Mundungus's face fell, "You really have to get over that kid, I said we was sorry for robbing Sirius's home but ain't nobody here then, who'd use all that stuff?"

"Kreacher was here! Kreacher told you not to take anything and you laughed at Kreacher!" He held the pan over his head and held it at the ready. Both Harry and Kreacher looked like they were on the verge of attacking Mundungus again.

"We need to know about a certain artifact that you took from here," Hermione interjected, "a locket with Salazar Slytherin's emblem. You took it from Kreacher's room..." It was hardly a room but Hermione refused to call it what it was.

"Yeah yeah I member it" Mundungus groaned as he massaged the side of his leg where Kreacher had bitten him. "I don't have it anymore."

"What did you do with it?" Hermione asked knowing this had been a real possibility but still hating the situation.

"He sold it," Harry said defeated. Mundungus huffed, disappointment written all over his face. "He probably wishes he got more for it."

"More for it?" Mundungus blanched. "More? That wouldn't have been effing difficult…bleedin' gave it away, di'n' I? No choice."

"What do you mean?" Asked Harry.

"I was selling in Diagon Alley and she come up to me and asks if I've got a license for trading in magical artefacts. Bleedin' snoop. She was gonna fine me, but she took a fancy to the locket an' told me she'd take it and let me off that time, and to fink meself lucky. Little woman. Bow on top of 'er head...Looked like a toad."

Hermione sat down on a chair as the air left her lungs. Almost like a slap in the face Mundungus had looked around him, beside him a stack of old newspapers had been laid forgotten and he saw them.

He pointed excitedly at the one on top, "That's her! Umbridge, Dolores Umbridge. She has your bleedin' locket. Now you can let me go!"

"Kreacher," Harry whispered. He knelt down on his knees to be at the height of Kreacher and whispered something in the house elf's ear. Kreacher nodded enthusiastically. Harry gave him Mundungus's wand and watched as Kreacher took a hold of the thief's injured leg.

Mundungus gave a feral cry and then they were gone.

"Where'd he take him?" Ron asked.

"The rock near the cave where the locket was. I told him to hide his wand in the sand. When the waves calm in the morning he can swim to retrieve it."

"How are we going to get the locket from Umbridge?" Hermione whispered rubbing hands over her eyes. It seemed they were never going to find the locket at this rate.

"Is that really your problem?" Draco asked. She turned in her chair to look at him. He was wiping blood off his lip with the back of his hand.

"Malfoy..." Harry warned.

Draco sighed and elaborated, "She's in charge of the muggleborn registration committee. That thing I told you is a trick to send muggleborn witches and wizards to Azkaban. You can find a way with that or..."

"Or?" Hermione asked seeing hesitation written on his features.

"Well, there's always the Autumn Ball but it depends on how badly you want this locket."

"Why?" Harry asked stepping forward, "wouldn't it be easier to go during the registration process?"

"I heard there's going to be dementors there. I don't think Voldemort expects you to prance into the Ministry of Magic anytime soon so I doubt he changed those plans on account of me." Draco transfigured an apple that sat on the table into a mirror and looked at the damage Ron had caused his face. "But the ball is no...well, ball either."

He grinned at his own joke, "There will be Aurors swarming the place, not to mention some of the most elite in the magical world. Your real problem is getting in there without someone realizing you're not supposed to be among their class. Again, it depends on how much you want this locket of yours."

"When is this ball?" Harry asked.

"During the Autumnal Equinox, 23rd of September."

"And you've been to one of these balls?" Hermione asked looking on as he healed his own cut. It was impressive how quickly and confidently he did it. It was almost like he had practiced that spell a million times before.

"I've been going since third year. I know these people like the back of my hand. But then again, they also know me." He put down the mirror and his wand. "Like I said before. I'm here to help, just tell me what to do."

"Alright Malfoy, we'll go to this ball. We have more than a month to prepare and you have that time to prove yourself useful." Harry conceded to Draco's plan even though Ron huffed and Hermione looked apprehensive. She wasn't sure which was worse. Dementors or a room full of people who by nature hated her kind.

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**-Maria**


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